Prove the Pervert Wrong
by KyuubiMan
Summary: Jiraiya is disappointed that Naruto is still determined to retreive Sasuke, and refuses to train him unless he changes his mind. Naruto, being as hardheaded as ever, is unwilling to give up, meaning that he has to train himself.
1. Perverts, Foxes, and CloakWearing Freak

**Prove the Pervert Wrong**

**Chapter One: Perverts, Foxes, and Cloak-Wearing Freaks**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I wouldn't be writing a fan fiction. Also, the manga/show would probably suck. Luckily, that isn't the case.**

"Speech"

/_Thoughts_/

* * *

"If you're going to live as a ninja, live wiser. If you remain an idiot, it will be tough to live in this world. That's the harsh truth." As the old man concluded his speech, he couldn't even bring himself to look at the young blond. Or, rather, to look at himself, trying to get Orochimaru to return once more. 

"All right…" Naruto was sure it was a bluff, and he couldn't give up on his friend or his promise. "If that's what it means to be wise, I'll be an idiot all my life! I'll think of an even greater technique and save Sasuke for sure! And then… and then… I'll beat Akatsuki up!"

"If someone like you tries to do it all alone… all you'll think of is a bunch of useless, perverted techniques." /_Time is of the essence for him, but I can't let him continue down this path… It's too painful, and it could crush him completely_/ "I know I said it would depend on the issue, but…" Naruto got a hopeful look on his face; he just knew ero-sennin was going to agree to train him anyway. "Instead, I will have you banned from leaving the village at all." Naruto's face fell immediately. "ANBU will be watching you around the clock, and you won't be allowed to perform missions. Excuse me; I need to speak with Tsunade." Just like that, Jiraiya was gone.

Naruto just lay there, in the hospital bed, wondering what to do. /_Kuso… Now even he doesn't think I'm strong enough to do anything on my own! But, he's probably right… The only jutsu I've ever created were perverted, and even those weren't really _new_ jutsu, they were just changed... If I really want to get stronger, though, I'll have to prove him wrong. I can't be Hokage if I never make any jutsu of my own anyway. For Sasuke, Sakura, and my dream… I have to get stronger!_/

* * *

"What do you mean you won't train Naruto!" Tsunade was waiting until he mentioned "data gathering" to break all of his ribs. "If you don't train him then he won't stand a chance!" 

"I mean exactly that, Tsunade." He kept his voice calm, deciding not to test her temper. "I won't train him until he gives up on chasing Sasuke."

Her eyebrow twitching slightly, she forced herself to lower her voice. "Ah, so that's how it is. You won't train him if he makes the same mistakes that you made, even though the circumstances are completely different and--"

"They are not!" Jiraiya couldn't help but interrupt if she was going to say something like that. "Sasuke and Orochimaru are very similar, Tsunade, you can't deny that. They will both do anything to obtain power, and neither could ever be convinced to change their ways, even by their best friends!"

"Jiraiya…" Truthfully, she had reached the same conclusion, but she didn't want to believe it. "Naruto is just the type of person that _can_ convince Sasuke to come back." Seeing Jiraiya about to interrupt, she held up her hand and continued. "He changes people, Jiraiya. I've seen it, and I know you have too. I was thinking along the same lines as you, but Naruto is just the kind of person to prove us wrong. He _will_ bring Sasuke back."

Hearing Tsunade say something this naïve was leaving Jiraiya with a bad taste in his mouth. The idea that she could believe something so absurd, even after what had happened with Orochimaru, was unsettling to say the least. "If you want to believe in fairy tales, I won't stop you. Still, I won't train someone just to watch their spirit be crushed by utter failure a few years down the road. If you won't convince ANBU to watch him, I will."

"…if you really won't train him--"

"I won't."

Not liking where this was going, Tsunade knew what she had to do. "If that is really the case, then you're right. Naruto can't be allowed to leave the village, and I'll have someone watching him at all times. As much as I hate to do it, I'll have to stop letting him take missions too."

"So you finally came to your senses?"

"No." She wasn't going to let him think he'd won. "I just don't want any headaches while I wait for you to come to yours. He'll just keep complaining to me if I give him D-rank missions… I guess I should go tell him now." Using every ounce of her willpower to not hit Jiraiya square in the face, although she wasn't sure that it wouldn't be worth it, she headed to the hospital.

* * *

Stopping just outside of Naruto's hospital room Tsunade could hear him talking to Sakura. She decided that this conversation shouldn't be interrupted. 

"Wait just a little longer, okay? I'll definitely keep my promise."

/_Oh, they're talking about _that_. Maybe I should interrupt… No, it can wait._/ She was a little surprised that Sakura seemed so determined to help all of a sudden, but forced herself to focus on what she had to tell Naruto.

When Sakura left, Tsunade waited a few seconds before entering. When she did, she decided to start the conversation on a soft note. "So, Naruto, I heard you ran away from the hospital." Naruto's face tensed. "Relax, Naruto, I'm not nearly as mad as Shizune. Still, you might want to listen to her next time…" She couldn't help but form a grin, knowing that Naruto would never willingly lie down for an indeterminate period of time just because a medic told him he wasn't okay yet.

When Naruto didn't respond immediately, Tsunade knew there was a problem. He had one of the biggest grins she had ever seen, which meant that he was probably troubled by something. Right when she was about to ask if he was okay, he decided to speak. "So… can I go yet?"

"No."

"What! I'm fine, and I need to start training right away--"

"About that, Naruto…" /_Now's as good a time as any…_/ "Jiraiya told me that he won't be training you." As Naruto's face suddenly became an over-exaggerated scowl, she decided that he was probably okay. "I don't like what I have to do, but--"

"You can't keep me in the village, baa-chan!"

"Naruto." He closed his mouth instead of screaming out whatever protest he had ready. "With the threat of Akatsuki, and the current situation with Sasuke and Orochimaru, I have no choice but to keep you in the village. Without Jiraiya to protect you, the risk is too great. Jiraiya will come to his senses eventually, but until then all I'm asking is for you to wait patiently, alright? Maybe you could even use that time to make yourself stronger, instead of arguing with everyone just because you're upset…"

Obviously, that was the wrong thing to say. Naruto wouldn't even look at her while she tried to cheer him up, and she ended up leaving him in sour spirits.

* * *

Naruto, realizing what had been wrong with Sakura during their conversation earlier that day, managed to break free of the bed and ran towards the town gate. Immediately after he had he convinced her to let him come with her, wherever she was going, Jiraiya came out of his hiding spot in the nearby forest. 

"Don't try to stop us, ero-sennin!"

Seeing Sakura figure out who he was, Jiraiya found himself slightly disappointed that he wouldn't get a chance to introduce himself. Still, he didn't show his disappointment, he just sighed and shook his head. "I'm not going to stop you. While I'm not particularly happy to see you two turn nuke-nin, what really bothers me is the stupid way you're handling this."

"I already told you, I'll bring Sasuke back for sure!" /_Stupid perverted bastard…_/

"That's not what I meant, although I stand by what I said before." At Sakura's confused look, he kept going. "What I'm saying is stupid this time is that, instead of taking the three year window that's been given to you as training time, you've decided to go attack Orochimaru while you're still weak. Even if you do convince that boy to come back, which will never happen, the three of you won't be able to get away from Orochimaru."

"But, Jiraiya-sama…" Sakura didn't know what three year window he was talking about, but she didn't think it was that stupid. "The sooner we get him back--"

"Wrong." /_What is it with these kids and rushing, anyway?_/ "He won't be any less willing to come back in three years than he is now, the only difference will be how strong you've gotten. But… I'm going to tell you what I told Naruto. Forget Sasuke. He left entirely on his own, and--"

"No!" She honestly didn't know which was worse: not getting Sasuke back, or remaining useless all her life. Still there was one thing she could never do, and that was giving up on chasing Sasuke. "Even if he did leave on his own… Sasuke is our friend, our teammate! We won't leave him behind, and we won't forget him! If we need to get stronger to save him, then we'll just train and get stronger!"

"Hmm…" /_So they're both idiots, huh? Well, Tsunade, I guess the situation _is_ different, but…_/ "If you want to be idiots, I can't change that. Just tell me now whether you're leaving or not so I know what to tell Tsunade."

"We… We won't leave!" Naruto gave her a grin at that statement, but she didn't notice. "We'll stay here and get strong enough to save Sasuke! Right Naruto?"

"Right, Sakura-chan!" /_I really hope there were no ANBU watching me tonight…_/

"Naruto," Jiraiya couldn't believe how stupid they were being, "eventually you'll realize that I'm right and give up on Sasuke. Until then, I'll be around. As soon as you come to your senses, we can start training."

"Then I guess I'll just have to get stronger than you on my own, because there's no way I'll ever give up on Sasuke!" Naruto put on a nice big grin, and Jiraiya left. Sakura, more confused than she had probably ever been in her life, left knowing that somehow, in some way, she needed to become strong.

* * *

Naruto, who had snuck back into his hospital bed without bothering to replace his restraints, was given a rude awakening by Shizune. "NARUTO-KUN!" Opening his eyes, he could swear that there were flames in hers. "YOU SNUCK OUT AGAIN!" After a long, boring, and exceptionally loud speech about why he shouldn't leave the hospital until the medics tell him that his wounds are healed, Naruto was given another check-up. Finding nothing wrong with him, Shizune was forced to let him leave, though she was tempted to lie just to get back at him.

While Naruto was glad to leave the hospital, he knew it wouldn't change much. Training would, of course, be necessary, but without Jiraiya it just didn't seem like it would be enough. He decided to start in the obvious place and work from there.

"Oi! Kakashi-sensei! I need you to--"

"Sorry, Naruto." Kakashi had, of course, been told by Jiraiya not to train Naruto. He probably would have trained Naruto anyway, but Jiraiya was a legendary sannin, after all. Crossing one of the few living ninja that could actually beat him with little effort was not high on Kakashi's to do list. "I'm busy."

Seeing a slightly nervous look on Kakashi's, er, eye, Naruto realized exactly when he had heard that before. "You're training Sakura-chan, aren't you!"

"No, Naruto, I'm not training… Wait. Haven't you heard yet?"

"Heard what?"

"Sakura is going to be Tsunade-sama's apprentice. Tsunade-sama just agreed this morning."

"What! Baa-chan's going to train Sakura-chan?"

"Yup."

Naruto was a little too shocked to know exactly what his opinion was, let alone voice it. After thinking it over for about a minute, he decided it was a good thing. /_She'll be that much stronger when we go to get Sasuke._/ A big smile on his face, he asked, "so why can't you train me?"

"I'm too busy with missions right now, sorry." It wasn't a complete lie. He had only one mission, but watching over Naruto every day from noon to midnight didn't really prevent him from training the boy. At Naruto's look, he decided to give him a little help that Jiraiya couldn't detect. "Why don't you try asking Gai? I know he and Lee are maintaining a regular training schedule, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem for him to squeeze you in…"

"Super-brows? You think he'd actually train me?" Remembering how strong Lee had gotten under Gai, he knew that Gai's training would at least take care of his taijutsu needs. Still, it seemed a little odd that the jounin would accept an extra student no questions asked.

"If I know Gai at all, he'd be ecstatic to have you as a student. Next to Lee and Gai, you're probably the most willing of all Konoha ninja to work hard, and you never give up. That's exactly what he's looking for in students…" Kakashi smiled, which was visible only in his eye. "I'm sure he'd love to teach you."

After many screams of joy and thanks, Naruto was off to find Gai. Gai and Lee were right where Naruto had expected to find them: the training grounds. "Oi! Super-brows-sensei! Fuzzy-brows!"

While Lee happily greeted Naruto, Gai remembered the conversation he had had with Jiraiya. In particular, the threats came to mind. "Naruto, I know why you're here, and…" He couldn't bring himself to say it. The very idea of not training someone so youthful and passionate was everything that he was not, and he wasn't about to lie about his reasons either. With extreme difficulty, and a very deep sigh, Gai made his decision. "…I can't train you."

"What! Gai-sensei, surely Naruto-kun--"

"Lee!" At this, Lee went silent. "I wish that I could train you, Naruto, but I can't." This was the most serious Naruto had ever seen Gai, and it was starting to unnerve him. "I'm sure you want to know why, but… I can't tell you."

"Oh." /_Does he hate me because of Kyuubi?_/ "Is it because of…" Suddenly Naruto stopped, glanced at Lee, and put on a big grin. "That's okay, Super-brows! I'll just have to get stronger than you without your help!"

Gai, just figuring out what Naruto was going to ask before noticing Lee, didn't want the boy to have the wrong idea. Interrupting Lee's protests that Naruto was underestimating him, Gai said "Lee, that's enough. Naruto, about your question a moment ago… That isn't the reason."

Naruto, happy that Gai wouldn't refuse him because of Kyuubi, but angry that Gai still refused him for some reason that he wouldn't even say, left without saying anything. He had really liked the idea of training with Gai, since one of his main weaknesses was his speed, but he got over it quickly enough.

/_I only know two other jounin sensei… If I ask Asuma-sensei, I might have to deal with Ino, so I should probably start with Kurenai-sensei._/

Twenty minutes later, Naruto managed to find Kurenai, along with her team, in one of the last places he would have ever expected them: training area eight. Seriously, he could understand Lee and Gai training at eight o'clock in the morning, but these three? Unfortunately, Hinata, Kiba, and Shino had been sparring, and Naruto's sudden appearance within byakugan's range caused Hinata a temporary lapse in awareness. Kiba, the idiot that he was, took advantage of this blunder in a way that knocked Hinata unconscious.

Naruto saw it, but chose to ignore it, since he really had no need to see Hinata anyway. "Kurenai-sensei! I need to talk to you for a second!"

This came as something of a shock to the crimson-eyed woman, who could think of no reason that Naruto would want to talk to her. "Me?"

"Yeah! I need you to help train me!"

"Train you? Shouldn't Kakashi handle that?" Jiraiya's words were flashing through her mind, and she realized that he must have threatened just about every jounin that Naruto had ever met.

"He says he's 'busy.' I asked Gai-sensei too, but… Anyway, I need someone to train me! Could you pl--"

"Idiot!" It was Kiba. "She has her own team to train, she can't train you too!"

"Kiba!" Although she felt it was a valid point, it wasn't one she was willing to use. If anyone was priority, it was Naruto. Still, she couldn't train him against Jiraiya's wishes, it would have been too dangerous. "Naruto, I'm sorry, but I can't train you." His face fell, and Kiba's went from a frown to a look of pure ecstasy. "It's just that… uh… Why don't you ask Asuma?"

Apparently not noticing the fact that she didn't explain herself in any way, Naruto just nodded and ran off. Five minutes later, he was exactly where he knew he would find Asuma: Chouji's favorite barbecue restaurant. He walked up to the table, and was about to ask Asuma the question even though he knew the answer, but was interrupted by Ino. "What are you doing here, Naruto?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean exactly what I asked! What are you doing here?"

"I would have told you by now if you would shut up for a few seconds!"

"What did you say! Don't just interrupt our team breakfast and tell me to shut up!"

"I didn't interrupt your team breakfast! You yelled at me!"

"But you--"

"Would you two please be quiet? You're being too troublesome…" Shikamaru was convinced that eight in the morning was too early to be fighting in a restaurant.

"Naruto, what did you want?" Asuma had a bad feeling about Naruto's presence. Remembering what Jiraiya had said to him, he almost thought that Naruto wanted training, before realizing how ludicrous the idea was.

"Asuma-sensei, I actually wanted to ask you… Would you please train me?"

Asuma dropped his meat, his chopsticks, and his jaw. He had to have been Naruto's last resort, considering that not only did his team not get along with Naruto, but they weren't exactly known for being well trained. /_Did Jiraiya threaten everyone in the village or something?_/ Suddenly jolted back into reality by his students calling his name, Asuma looked down to see that Chouji had taken his meat.

"Sorry, Naruto, but no."

"What! Why not?"

"I… I'm busy."

"Kakashi-sensei already used that one."

"I… can't tell you why."

"Gai-sensei…"

"Why don't you ask--"

"Kurenai sensei…"

"Uh… I'm sure that Tsunade-sama could--"

"Just tell me why!" At this point, Asuma's team was getting a little curious, too. It was one thing for Asuma to just say no, but to refuse to give the reason showed that it was either something stupid or something serious. "I don't care what the reason _is_, I just want to know!"

"…Tsunade-sama could probably find someone to teach you…"

Many frustrated yells later, Naruto left the restaurant to confront Tsunade. He hoped that she would at least be able to force someone to train him. She almost blew him off before remembering how overly-bitter Jiraiya had been, and said she'd have someone meet him at Ichiraku's for lunch.

As he finished his twelfth bowl of ramen, Naruto heard his name from behind him. "Naruto-kun?"

"Shizune-nee-chan? You're going to train me?" As far as Naruto knew, his chakra control was too poor to be a medic-nin.

"No…" /_Tsunade-sama, you coward!_/ "I'm here to tell you that… no one will train you."

"Eh?" It took Naruto a few moments to process that statement. Tsunade, the Hokage, could not find him a teacher. Not one jounin was willing to train him, a new low. When he finally realized that his face fell. "So… that's it, then."

Shizune had never known Naruto to look so weak and pitiful. "Naruto-kun…"

Suddenly his head lifted, his face became an enormous grin, and he was laughing. "I guess that means I'll just have to get stronger on my own! Who needs a sensei when they have my raw talent?" Shizune found herself smiling a bit, even if she knew it was a bluff. "So, Shizune-chan, do you want some ramen? I was just about to order some more, so I could get you some if you want."

Looking at his stack of bowls, she almost fainted. /_Where does he put it all?_/ "Um… sure, Naruto-kun." She wasn't exactly eager to get back while Tsunade was still angry anyway.

* * *

**A/N:** I don't usually write fiction, and this is my first fan fiction, so please judge it accordingly. Sorry that this chapter's so short, but I didn't want to get into Naruto's training until the next chapter. Future chapters will be significantly longer, I promise. Also, you know what's annoying? Apparently you can't have a question mark followed by an exclamation point on this site... Anyway, please review! 


	2. Enter the Librarian

**Prove the Pervert Wrong**

**Chapter Two: Enter the Librarian**

**Disclaimer: In case you didn't get it the first time, I don't own Naruto. Given the opportunity to change that fact, I would decline so that I could continue to read Kishimoto's work.**

"Speech"

/_Thoughts_/

* * *

Kakashi relieved the ANBU of his post just in time to watch Naruto and Shizune leaving Ichiraku's. After following Naruto home, and he saw a very strange sight: Naruto sat at his table quietly, staring at a wall. For an hour. Of all the spying jobs Kakashi had had, that was by far the most boring. He was almost nearing the level of boredom where he would tell Naruto about his job of watching over the boy just to see the reaction when Naruto suddenly jumped up, shouted "yatta!" several times, and bolted out the door. 

What he didn't realize, of course, was that Naruto had finally figured out how to start training. The boy had, for the first time in his life, spent an hour just sitting and thinking. His first decision was to not use Kyuubi's chakra anymore unless his life depended on it. If he used Kyuubi's chakra, he would never get stronger, and he didn't want to have to rely on the stupid fox. His second decision was to focus on his weaknesses instead of his strengths, another first. Remembering his fight with Sasuke, his weaknesses were his speed and taijutsu style. It had only taken him four minutes to realize that much, but the real problem was how to improve them. Then he had a brilliant idea: why not just imitate his predecessors? He _was_ going to become the greatest Hokage, after all, so why not learn from those before him?

Running as quickly as he could towards the training grounds, Naruto thought about Yondaime. Widely regarded as the strongest Hokage (as far as Naruto knew), Yondaime had specialized in speed. Although his natural speed was probably impressive, Naruto faintly remembered hearing something about a jutsu to increase speed. /_But how did he do it?_/ Reaching the training ground at last, Naruto ran right into the middle of it and again stood still and silent. Kakashi settled into a tree just in time to hear Naruto screaming "chikushou!" He mentally prepared himself for a long day.

Mind racing, Naruto tried to think of how people invented techniques from scratch. While it was true that he had "invented" jutsu before, they were both bastardizations of existing techniques. Still, someone had to have invented those techniques, which meant that there had to be a way to invent new ones. All he had to do was think about how to make himself faster…

/_That's it! When the Kyuubi chakra fills my body with chakra… Oh, right. I wasn't going to use his chakra anymore. Well, maybe if I just pump chakra into my muscles, it'll do the trick…_/

To a jounin as experienced as Kakashi, it was pretty obvious what Naruto was trying to do. Still, it was hard to resist the urge to scrub his eye and look again. That Naruto would actually believe that he could duplicate shunshin no jutsu, an A-rank jutsu only known to Yondaime, was absurd. /_Well, at least it'll be interesting…_/

Two hours into Naruto's training, Kakashi was stunned. Granted, Naruto's new technique was by no means done, and it was certainly no shunshin no jutsu, but it was well on its way. The first few times Naruto had tried it, he had gotten no effect whatsoever. By the end of his little training period, he had been able to multiply his speed by one and a half. If he had kept going, Kakashi was sure he could have gotten it to double, but Naruto was contented for the day.

Recognizing that his jutsu was multiplying his speed instead of adding to it, Naruto realized that it would be much more effective if he trained his speed too. This, of course, meant that Naruto needed to focus on both techniques and physical training if he wanted to get Sasuke back.

Cursing his job all the while, Kakashi followed Naruto as the boy ran 100 laps around Konoha. Not only did Kakashi have to run enough laps around Konoha to leave him hard of breath under normal conditions, he had to do it while staying hidden. It was a good thing that Naruto was so slow, or Kakashi might have actually lost him. When Naruto finally stopped, he looked tired, but not nearly as tired as Kakashi had expected. Over six and a half hours of running, and the boy looked like he could go for at least two more.

"That's enough running for today!" The blond exclaimed his thought as though he knew someone was running with him, which put Kakashi on edge a little. Truth be told, Naruto had no idea who was following him, and he hadn't really been thinking of them when he had said it. "I wonder if Ichiraku's is still open…" Of course, Kakashi couldn't help but think about the irony of Naruto going against his word as he chased after the boy, who was running through the streets at a much faster pace than Kakashi would have thought possible.

By nine o'clock, Naruto had finished his dinner, which had consisted of ten bowls of miso ramen and ten bowls of pork ramen. To Kakashi's extreme chagrin, he once again found himself chasing after a moving target as Naruto ran back to the training grounds. For a moment, he found himself wondering whether Naruto was going to try his technique again, but the boy opted instead for more physical training: squats, push-ups, kicks, and punches.

As midnight rolled around, Naruto headed back to his apartment in a run. Mentally cursing whoever had invented running, as it appeared Naruto would be doing quite a bit of it, Kakashi followed. The midnight-to-noon guy, as Kakashi called him in his head, came and relieved him of duty. After slowly making his way home Kakashi fell into a blissful sleep, only to be plagued by nightmares of endless running.

* * *

Kakashi showed up outside of Ichiraku's a little early the next day (gasp!) so that the midnight-to-noon guy could give him an update on Naruto's progress. Even if he was assigned to tail Naruto, he felt he would be a pretty crappy sensei if he didn't bother to keep up with his student's progress. What he learned left him respecting Naruto more than almost any other ninja he had ever met. 

Not only had Naruto gotten up at six in the morning, meaning that he had only gotten six hours of sleep, but the boy had run an additional hundred laps. The most impressive thing about it, however, was that he had improved his time. Significantly. With less sleep, and a small breakfast by anyone's standards, let alone his, Naruto had managed to run 100 laps of Konoha in five hours flat, meaning that he had reduced the time per lap by a full minute. The ANBU had actually gotten so winded that he lost Naruto after the ninetieth lap, and went back to the spot where Naruto had started to wait for him.

"This kid is incredible, Kakashi! It's just ridiculous! Even after all that running, he created fifty kage bunshin and had a taijutsu tournament! I don't know where he gets his stamina, but I wish he'd lend me some…"

"Thanks for the update, midni-- I mean, Hoshi. You should probably go rest for the rest of the day." /_Where the hell is this coming from? I understand the stamina, but…_/

After lunch, Naruto started into his physical workout first, to get it out of the way. It never once occurred to him that weakening his muscles before attempting to use a technique that increased their output would be a bad idea, but with his body it wasn't really a problem anyway. Kakashi watched as, from twelve-thirty to three, Naruto did squats, push-ups, punches, and kicks. /_I can understand that he's determined, but this… this borders on obsessive! Not only that, he's improving so quickly that I can actually watch it! And he never runs out of energy… How badly did I underestimate you, Naruto?_/

Then came the part of the day that Kakashi had been waiting for: Naruto's jutsu. Even though the idea that Naruto was working off of was different than Yondaime's, and probably wouldn't work quite as well, it was more fun to watch than anything else Naruto did. For eight hours Naruto tried the jutsu over and over again, until he got to the point where his speed was doubled. Then he collapsed, right in the middle of the field.

"Worked a little _too_ hard, eh Naruto?" Kakashi walked over to check on Naruto, and wasn't surprised in the least to find him unconscious. Then he realized something very suspicious: Naruto skipped dinner! Having the decency to carry Naruto home and lay him in bed, Kakashi couldn't help but marvel at the kid's stamina. When Hoshi arrived, Kakashi went to get some sleep, deciding to tell Tsunade about Naruto's accomplishments the next morning.

* * *

Almost three weeks from the beginning of Naruto's new training regimen, and Kakashi was getting less and less impressed. No major improvements had really been made by the blond since that first day. He had reduced his lap time to two and a half minutes per lap and added twenty-five laps, which had caused midnight-to-noon guy to cry a little, and he had gotten his new jutsu to triple his speed instead of doubling it, but that was it. 

Having about an hour left until Naruto's training for the day would end, Kakashi was reflecting on the promise Naruto had shown three weeks prior, when he saw something he hadn't expected. Naruto just stopped. He didn't look like he was suffering from chakra depletion or anything of that nature, he just… stopped.

Standing completely still, staring into space, Naruto realized something that should have been obvious to him from the start. /_Hand seals! …But which ones? How do people figure this kind of thing out, anyway? What, do they just move their hands at random and happen across techniques…?_/ With that he (warily) went through, trying each hand seal with the jutsu to see which would work best. He found that the rabbit and sheep seals were the only ones that really changed anything, and decided to try them together. He found that using sheep then rabbit actually reduced the effectiveness, but using rabbit then sheep actually doubled it! Though he was low on chakra, he was able to multiply his speed about six times by the end of the night.

Kakashi was so shocked by the effectiveness of Naruto's technique that he didn't even notice the boy pass out. This boy, a gennin, had created a jutsu almost as effective as Yondaime Hokage's most frequented jutsu! Not only that, his technique showed the potential to overcome Yondaime's, because Shunshin no Jutsu always multiplied speed eight fold, while Naruto's jutsu's effect was proportional to the chakra used. In other words, the stronger Naruto got, the more useful the technique got. A few minutes later Kakashi finally realized that Naruto wasn't going to get back up, so he took the gennin home and laid him in bed.

* * *

Saturday came once more, marking the three week point, and Naruto had named his jutsu. "Naruto senkou no jutsu (Naruto flash technique)" was born, and Naruto was able to get it to multiply his speed by ten without collapsing. Kakashi was curious about where Naruto would go from there, though. If Naruto was really planning on basing his training on the skills of the previous Hokage, he would need to know more about the man. More, in fact, than would be possible to learn. 

Naruto, noting the same problem, was avoiding at all costs making the conclusion that he knew was necessary. Even if he had known other skills of Yondaime, he would eventually have had to move on to his other predecessors if he was to execute his plan. This, unfortunately, led to an extremely undesirable eventuality. He would have to go to the **library**.

In his entire life, Naruto had only been to the library once. He had only gone because one of his classmates had told him that only idiots never went to the library, and he had wanted to find something that could help with his pitiful grades at the academy. Instead, he found a maze of scrolls with no apparent method of navigation, a mean old lady who seemed to think that breathing too loudly should be outlawed, and an odd smell. While he had always enjoyed reading the scrolls that the academy gave him, he had trouble believing that the library was worth the trouble.

Suddenly the library was becoming an important resource, and he had no idea how to use it.

* * *

Placing her hand over the cut, and using her precise chakra control, Sakura watched it heal over completely. "Yatta! I did it, Tsunade-shishou!" 

Tsunade looked up to see that the cut was completely healed. "Good job, Sakura! You'll need to heal a larger cut just to make sure, but I think you're probably ready for the next jutsu." She prepared the kunai to make the incision, but there was a knock at the door. "Come in." As Kakashi made his way into the room, she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. "Kakashi? Aren't you supposed to be on a mission!"

"Hai, Tsunade-sama, but I left that in the hands of an ANBU so that I could come speak to you." He glanced at Sakura, "it's about Naruto's training…"

"Has Jiraiya finally realized that he's being an idiot?"

"No…" He glanced at Sakura again, making it much more obvious this time.

"Anything you have to tell me, you can tell to my apprentice as well, Kakashi." Sakura stiffened slightly. "Is he having trouble?"

"Not exactly, Tsunade-sama." Realizing at last that Tsunade was not going to excuse Sakura from the room, Kakashi sighed. "The truth is that he's probably doing a better job of training himself than Jiraiya could ever hope to do." Tsunade, who had started making the cut on the rabbit, slipped and made an extremely large gash on its abdomen.

"Whoops…" She started healing the rabbit, "continue please, Kakashi."

"Yes, well… Aside from having a level of stamina that has, quite literally, brought an elite ANBU to tears, Naruto has nearly doubled his natural speed. He has also--"

"Doubled!" Sakura felt embarrassed about being completely outclassed in such a way. "He _doubled_ his speed in three weeks?"

"Not quite, Sakura, but nearly. Laps around Konoha, which took him four minutes three weeks ago, now take him about two and a half minutes each. He's taken to doing 125 of them each morning after waking up, which is causing Hoshi--"

"Does he keep the same pace the entire way?" Tsunade felt it was a legitimate question. It would enable her to judge his speed increase and his stamina increase in one go. "He does 125 laps in a little over five hours, but does he run full speed the entire way or slow down as time goes by?"

"He keeps his maximum pace the entire way." Sakura and Tsunade both had the same expression: one they would probably wear after being hit in the face with a frying pan. "Which, as I was saying, causes Hoshi to lose track of him for up to an hour at a time. The first time that Naruto reached this pace, Hoshi actually did cry a little." Kakashi got a smile on his eye. "That was pretty funny to watch. Although, to be fair, it's probably good that Hoshi's getting some decent training in while he's on this mission… Anyway, that isn't the impressive part, Tsunade-sama."

"Not the impressive part!" Thinking about it, Tsunade began to wonder if she could hold her maximum pace for five hour spurts right after waking up. "What the hell could be more impressive than that!"

"Well, for one thing, he's only getting six hours of sleep per night, and he's skipping breakfast and dinner." Several moments of silence ensued. "Although," he added more to break the silence than because he thought it important, "that may just be a money issue. Without missions, we can hardly expect him to continue to eat the same amount…"

"Oh crap!" /_I didn't even think about that!_/ "Er… I'll arrange to get him some kind of paid leave. So, are we to the part where I can freak out yet, or is there more?" She felt there was no real need to ask the question, as little could be more impressive than that level of improvement and stamina with a reduced diet and less sleep. She was, as usual, wrong.

"There's more." Kakashi had a wide grin on his face, but was thankful that his mask was hiding it. "He's already invented a jutsu. A _powerful_ jutsu."

Sakura could feel a little jealousy setting in. "Naruto _invented_ a jutsu! Are you sure it's really Naruto?"

"Yes, Sakura, I'm sure. Tsunade-sama, you might want to sit down for this. It's one hell of an accomplishment." Tsunade, deciding not to argue at this point in the conversation, sat where she was on the floor and motioned Sakura to do the same. "Naruto's jutsu… Do you remember shunshin no jutsu?"

"He's duplicated Yondaime's jutsu? Even Jiraiya never figured that out!"

"Relax, Tsunade-sama, he didn't duplicate it." He couldn't help but grin at the relieved look on her face. "He made his own technique that has the same type of effect, only Naruto's technique is more effective."

"More… MORE effective! Are you sure?"

"Tsunade-sama, Yondaime was my sensei. I'm entirely sure."

Sakura, confused beyond reason, decided it was time to get in on the conversation. "Excuse me, Tsunade-shishou, but… what's shunshin no jutsu?"

"It was a technique created by Yondaime, Sakura." Tsunade decided there was no reason not to tell Sakura, since she had been the one to say that Sakura should stay anyway. "shunshin no jutsu, which Yondaime never taught to anyone and a sharingan couldn't copy, was a supplementary technique. Using the technique, Yondaime was able to multiply his speed eight fold." Sakura looked completely shocked. Tsunade didn't know whether it was because of the effect of the jutsu or the fact that Naruto's was more effective than Yondaime's, but she didn't really care. "How effective is Naruto's?"

"Well, Tsunade-sama, it… depends."

"Depends? On what?"

"Naruto's technique is able to change how much it amplifies his speed based on how much chakra is poured into it. At his current level, he can multiply his speed by ten comfortably. That is, of course, after his daily laps, kage bunshin taijutsu tournament, and physical workout. If I had to guess, I would say that he's capable of multiplying his speed twenty-five fold without becoming completely useless."

Yet more silence met Kakashi's ears at this statement, but it was an expected silence. A stunned silence, at the fact that Naruto had essentially surpassed Yondaime in three weeks. He felt the need to give the kid proper tribute, though, so he added "the technique is called 'Naruto senkou no jutsu.'"

This caused Tsunade to start chuckling, which in turn brought Sakura to her senses. "So he couldn't resist naming it after himself, huh? What rank do you think it is?"

"B-rank. Maybe A-rank, but for now I'll say it's in the upper bounds of B-rank. Also, there's something odd about it…"

"Odd? Aside from the fact that a gennin, who was considered by everyone to be weaker than average, managed to create it to be more powerful than the technique that a genius Hokage created?"

"Yes. My sharingan was unable to copy the technique, even though he uses hand seals for it."

Of the many things that were running through Tsunade's mind, the one that came out of her mouth was the one that made her angriest. "You tried to copy his first original jutsu!"

"Yes, and I'll take the time to be ashamed later." He didn't really plan on being ashamed, as copying techniques was part of what had made him such a powerful ninja, but she didn't need to know that. "The important point right now is that I couldn't copy the jutsu, meaning that Sasuke and Itachi won't be able to either."

"… Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Her mood lightening a little bit, Tsunade decided that Sakura's training needed some stepping up. "Is there anything else you need to tell me, or can my apprentice resume her training now?"

"Just one more thing that I forgot to mention." Of course, Kakashi hadn't forgotten it. He had left it out on purpose to add dramatic effect. "Since Naruto's jutsu works differently than Yondaime's, it also has a… bonus effect." He paused to watch her reaction, which was priceless. "Where Yondaime's jutsu only increased speed, Naruto's also increases strength to the same degree."

"What did you just say? I'm sorry but I could have sworn I just heard you say--"

"I did." /_Sometimes it really pays to wear a mask…_/ "And it does."

With that, Kakashi left the room to speak to Gai. It took a few minutes for Sakura to feel up to continuing her training, and her chakra control was slightly worse than normal when she did continue.

* * *

Gai, having heard the same speech about Naruto's training, looked like he had seen a ghost. "So you're telling me that your student, _Uzumaki Naruto_, has created a B-rank jutsu that would allow him to be stronger and faster than Lee?" 

"Actually, his speed and strength would probably be on par with mine, if he went all out with it…"

"But, if Lee used the hachimon, he could still--"

"Yes, Gai, but that isn't the point." Kakashi sighed. /_His obsession with Lee is a little creepy sometimes…_/ "My point is that I'm starting to feel guilty about giving in to Jiraiya so easily. With Naruto working so hard, I could probably get him to sannin level in a year or two…"

"Yes, he really does embrace the spirit of youth quite well, doesn't he?" Kakashi almost sweat-dropped. "I regret not being able to aid his training, but Jiraiya can be… persuasive."

"Couldn't you at least give him some kind of scroll without Jiraiya finding out?" Kakashi was reduced to pleading, but he still managed to sound aloof. "I would hate to see that talent go to waste, and you _are_ the best taijutsu user in Konoha…"

"Well, I don't really have any scrolls… I could probably get him some weights, but I have a feeling that Jiraiya would find out about that... I'll think of something! The burdens of age will not douse his burning spirit of youth!" Pondering the mechanics of Gai's shining tooth, Kakashi made his way back to his mission.

* * *

There it was: the library. Looming over him like as the very gates of hell, the door to this home of demonic, old, quiet-obsessed ladies _dared_ Naruto to enter, so that the monsters inside could devour the very essence of his suffering in the air. His interior struggle ending, he decided to take a cautious peek inside. Seeing no one sitting at the librarian's desk, he quickly dashed inside. He was glad to not have to deal with the old lady immediately, but he knew it was coming. Randomly picking an aisle to search, as the numbering system made no sense to him whatsoever, he checked a few of the books. 

"Icha Icha Paradise...? Why do they have adult books in the library!"

"Oh, so that's where he put it!" The owner of the voice, a beautiful young girl with light brown shoulder-length hair and brown eyes, snatched the book from Naruto, smiling at him. "I knew he had to have hidden one somewhere; he never comes to the library without doing that."

"Ero-sennin was here?"

"Ero-sennin? You mean Jiraiya-sama? Yes, he was here."

"Oh." Realizing that he really didn't have a reason to care, Naruto had nothing else to say about it. He stood there silently for a few seconds before turning back to the shelf and looking through the books. After about four books, he realized that nothing on this aisle would be of any use unless he wanted a biology lesson. "Kuso! How am I supposed to find anything in this place, anyway?"

The girl smiled cheerily. "I could help you! I'm Mabui, what's your name?"

He stared at her for a second before asking, "You don't know?" Frowning slightly, she shook her head. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage! If you're--"

"You're _the_ Uzumaki Naruto? That's so cool!" Unknown to Naruto, Mabui was probably the only non-ninja in the village who had ever considered Naruto a hero. She had only been seven years old when the Kyuubi had been sealed, but she still knew about it all. "I _never_ thought I'd get to meet the hero of the village! And on my first day as the head librarian, this is _so_ cool!"

Three things about her reaction struck Naruto as wrong. First, even though she clearly knew about Kyuubi, she seemed to be glad that he was there instead of angry that he was breathing her air. Second, she had just called him "the hero of the village," which was about the furthest thing from what everyone else called him that he could imagine. Finally, she had said that she was a librarian, yet she was clearly an energetic, loud young girl. Deciding not to press his luck on the first two points, Naruto decided to ask her about the third. "You're a librarian? What happened to the old lady?"

"Hmm? Oh, she retired yesterday. I'm her replacement! If there's anything I can ever help you with, don't hesitate to ask! I'd be honored to help!"

Naruto just stared at her in shock, his jaw dropped. If he had heard her correctly, and he wasn't sure that he had, she had just said that she would be "honored to help" him, and the he shouldn't hesitate to ask. "Could you repeat that please? I'm sure there was some kind of cruel sarcasm that I missed the first time or something, because for a moment I thought you actually offered to help me…"

"I did offer to help you!" Her smile never wavered, but she felt a strike of pity for him. The way the villagers had treated him was horrible, and she knew it. "Any time you need my help, I'd be honored to give it to you! It's the least I could do…"

"Oh…" /_That's a first._/ Smiling, he decided that she was serious. "Could you help me find info on the past Hokages, then? It would really help my training, but I can't--"

"The Hokages? Sure thing, Naruto-kun! You only missed it by two aisles."

When they got to the Hokage information, Mabui took it upon herself to get him the best information available. He came out of the aisle with three scrolls and a book, and she assured him that the assortment was the most detailed account of the Hokages available, including their styles. After getting him set up at one of the research tables visible from her desk, she returned to her post.

Naruto, still freaked out by the fact that one of the villagers seemed to think of him as a hero, started with the book. Mabui had recommended a certain reading order, and he wasn't about to question it. The information he got from the book was mildly discouraging though. Apparently most of Shodai's techniques were only usable by him, and they were the core of his style. Doubting his ability to mimic that, Naruto moved on to the first scroll. After an interesting story about Nidaime's tutelage, it revealed that most of Nidaime's jutsu were extremely advanced water jutsu. Naruto, not knowing anything about water jutsu, moved on to the third scroll.

While Sandaime's background story was very interesting, his style was almost the exact opposite of Naruto's. Sandaime was known for knowing every non-bloodline technique in Konoha, a feat that would take too long for Naruto to accomplish. Not only that, Sarutobi didn't use taijutsu at all, opting instead for weapon combat. Naruto didn't like where his excursion was heading, but he forced himself to open the final scroll. The first thing he noticed was that large portions of the scroll, including all references to Yondaime's name and background, had been carefully covered in ink. The second thing he noticed was that he looked a lot more like Yondaime than the mountain had made him think.

"Mabui-chan?"

She rushed over. "Yes, Naruto-kun? Can I help you with something?"

"Why is all of this stuff about Yondaime blacked out?"

"Oh, that." She had really hoped that he wouldn't ask about that. "Well, Sandaime passed a law stating that that information couldn't be transmitted by any means… Godaime has stated that the law is to be upheld, so it would be illegal for us to have an uncensored version of the scroll."

"Why would his name have to be secret? I can understand the rest of it, maybe, but his name!"

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but the only way you could learn his name would be to ask someone who knew him, and even then they would have to break the law to tell you."

"Oh… Thanks."

"No problem, Naruto-kun!" She slowly ambled back to her post.

Reading through the scroll, Naruto was surprised to find that Yondaime was only famous for three techniques, and his physical training methods were unknown to everyone except Jiraiya. Realizing that the scrolls had been something of a waste of time, Naruto tried to think of some way that he could mimic one of them. He finally came to the conclusion that he would just have to improve on the techniques he had, and went to put everything away. It was at that point that he realized he had no idea where everything went.

"Um, Mabui-chan? Where did this stuff go again?"

"Oh, let me help you!" With her help, the scrolls and book were back in place in a matter of seconds, which he found marginally creepy. "Did you find everything you needed, Naruto-kun?"

"Well, yes, but it wasn't as helpful as I thought it would be…" Mabui's face was instantly downcast.

"Well…" she brightened up, "if you ever need anything, just ask! I have a lot of free time, so all you'll have to do is find me. Oh!" She got a pen and some paper, and quickly wrote something down before handing it to him. "Here's my address, just in case you can't find me here!"

"You… gave me your address?" /_Is she crazy? She just met me!_/

"Of course! I've always wanted to meet you, ever since… well, you know. The way they treat you, it's criminal! Especially after you saved our lives and our village! That and I can tell that you're a really nice person! I'd be honored to help you with anything!"

Still slightly freaked out by the fact that a librarian made a habit of shouting almost every sentence, Naruto couldn't help but smile. Here was a person who, before even meeting him, didn't hate him for carrying the Kyuubi. She even trusted and liked him! The only other person for whom that held true, in his memory, was Sandaime, but Mabui was different somehow…

"Well, I've gotta go train. Thanks for everything, Mabui-chan!"

* * *

Kakashi came back to his post just in time to see Naruto leave the library, of all places, and was treated to an afternoon run. Naruto was using the thinking time provided by running around the village 125 times to plan his next move. Over five hours later, Naruto came to a sudden halt in front of training ground seven. He had a vague idea of how he could improve the rasengan, but he wasn't really sure how to work it.

Kakashi, an elite jounin and ex-ANBU, had his hands on his knees in his attempt to catch his breath. Suddenly, he found himself very able to sympathize with Hoshi. He even considered apologizing for saying that it would be good training for the poor man. How Naruto could keep up such a pace for such a long time so often was completely beyond human comprehension. Naruto's second five-hour all out sprint of the day, and the boy barely looked tired at all!

When he finally caught his breath, Kakashi was more than a little surprised to see Naruto standing in the same place, staring off into space. It was becoming too common an occurrence in the usually boisterous boy. At this point that Kakashi decided it: Naruto was officially the weirdest person to spy on in the history of ninja.

"Might as well try it…" Naruto figured that he could at least give his idea a shot, seeing as how the library was closed. His idea was really pretty simple: increase the number of directions of rotation in the rasengan. From what he could remember of his training with Jiraiya, having multiple rotational directions was one of the key elements of power for the technique. He also remembered Jiraiya saying something about the direction of the swirl being different for different people, because their coils twisted in different directions. Put simply, the fact that the coils had twists in them limited the number of directions that the chakra could rotate in.

The idea that Naruto had come up with, however, seemed to eliminate that problem. He reasoned that, if he introduced the rotation with both hands at the same time, each hand would cause rotation in a different direction. When you place two clocks face to face, clockwise on one will be counter-clockwise on the other. Thinking this over in his head a few times, and finding no flaws, he decided to try it.

Facing his hands toward each other with enough space between them for a normal rasengan, Naruto concentrated on swirling his chakra. Nothing happened. Frustrated, Naruto tried harder, only to realize a fatal flaw in his plan: if the hands rotate chakra in opposite directions, they cancel each other out. Never one to be discouraged by something as unimportant as logic, Naruto continued to try through most of the night. He found that he could get the rotations on different timings, but he couldn't keep them from meeting at some point in the rotation.

Kakashi was a little too tired to figure out exactly what Naruto was trying to do to the rasengan, but he still thought it looked promising. Considering the boy's first jutsu, he really couldn't wait to see how this would turn out. Still, he seriously hoped that Naruto would get the running out of his system in the _morning_ the next day.

* * *

"Mabui-chan? Could you help me for a second?" Naruto had decided during his morning run that he would need to do some research, even if he had no idea how to go about the task. He was certain that his idea would work, but he couldn't think of what he was doing wrong on his own.

/_He actually came back! This is _so_ cool!_/ "Sure thing, Naruto-kun! What do you need?"

"Do you know of any good books about… um… physics?"

"Physics…? You sure have a weird set of interests, Naruto-kun!" Although it still freaked Naruto out when she was nice to him, he had to admit that it was nice to know someone who was always so cheerful. "What kind of physics?"

"'What _kind_?' What do you mean 'what kind?'"

"Well, what do you want to learn about? Physics is just a generalization for a bunch of different types of sciences… Why don't you just tell me what you want to know? I'm sure I can help you!"

"Er…" /_What exactly _do_ I want to know?_/ Through a somewhat sheepish grin, he managed to say "I guess I want to know about rotational stuff…"

"Oh, you mean centripetal force?" At Naruto's blank look, she explained, "centripetal force is the basic force that allows for rotation. Centripetal means 'center seeking,' and it's called that because it provides a push on the object in the direction of the center of the circle of rotation."

"Huh?" It clearly made sense to her, but to him it was just gibberish.

"Hmm… I know! Imagine that a horse is pulling a cart through a field. If you walk alongside the horse, pushing its shoulders, you can make it turn, right?"

"Yeah, but what does--"

"Assuming that you apply a constant pressure to the horse, you can cause it to go in circles through the field, right?" Naruto nodded. "When you push the horse, you don't push it in the direction you want it to go. Instead, you push it towards the center of the circle. The horse will move forward in a straight line if left to itself, but because you push it towards that center-point, its path becomes a compromise of your trajectory and its own! That's all that centripetal force really means."

"That… that made sense!" /_No one's ever explained anything so clearly before!_/ "Are you sure that was science talk? It just seemed like a normal conversation…" /_Well, maybe not _normal_, exactly…_/

Mabui couldn't help but giggle a little. "Yes, I'm sure. Is that the kind of thing you're looking for?"

"Yeah, definitely! I need to learn this stuff for a technique I'm working on!"

"A technique?" /_He wants my help with a technique?_/ "I can find you all kinds of stuff!"

Mabui soon showed that she wasn't a librarian for nothing. Not only had she read seemingly every book in the entire building, she seemed to remember which ones had what information! She made Sakura look like an idiot! Naruto ended up back at the same table with fifteen books and thirteen scrolls, all bookmarked at the places where Mabui had thought they would be most helpful.

Starting into the first book, Naruto instantly realized that Mabui was even more of a genius than he gave her credit for. He couldn't make heads or tails of anything it said. /_"Centripetal force has a magnitude equal to the mass of the object multiplied by the square of its velocity divided by the radius of the circle." What the hell does that mean!_/

Seeing Naruto almost ripping his hair out within minutes, Mabui got slightly worried. "Naruto-kun? Do you need some help?" Getting no response, she made her way over to the table. "Oh, is the jargon a little hard for you to understand?"

"Jargon? You mean these are actually words! I was beginning to think that the person just wrote random letters to confuse me…"

"Well, it never really gets very busy around here. I could help you learn this stuff if you want…" /_I wonder if that came off nonchalant..._/

His face brightened considerably. "You'd do that?"

"Of course! I'd be happy to help!"

Naruto glared at her suspiciously for a second. "Why are you so nice to me?"

"… What do you mean? I like you! You're funny, smarter than you give yourself credit for, and fun to be around."

"But no one's this nice to me! Not even Iruka-sensei or baa-chan…"

"Baa-chan?"

"Tsunade."

"She lets you call her baa-chan? Wow… Well, if no one else is this nice to you, than they don't know what they're missing!" Naruto's glare disappeared. "So… what did you need help with?"

"Actually… do you want to go get lunch first?" He mentally checked his wallet. "I know a great ramen place, and--"

"Ramen? I love ramen! Here, let me just go on break!"

* * *

Kakashi arrived outside Ichiraku's ramen stand to find a very different midnight-to-noon guy than he was used to. Not only was Hoshi's breathing normal, the man was standing in plain sight, even though he was supposed to be _spying_ on Naruto. Kakashi quickly pulled him into an alley to question his behavior.

"You do realize that Naruto isn't supposed to see you when you're spying, right Hoshi?"

"Oh relax. It's not like he wasn't told we were watching him… Besides, he's way too distracted right now to notice _me_."

"Distracted? By what?"

"He made a friend. A _real_ friend. I have to admit, when I first took the job, I didn't really like him, but he's grown on me. This girl he's met, though... Wow! She's like the perfect friend for him!"

"What do you mean by that?" Kakashi decided to ignore the fact that Hoshi had, like everyone else, written Naruto off without even meeting him.

"It seems she always thought of him as a hero. I haven't heard her explicitly say it, probably because I wasn't paying much attention at first, but it's pretty obvious in her actions and words."

"A… hero?" /_So someone actually did see it the same way as sensei…_/ "How old is she?"

"Twenty. She lost her father and brother in the Kyuubi attack, too. Now that I think about it, though, he really is something of a hero. He didn't exactly plan it, but…"

"Is there anything I need to know about this girl?"

"Other than the fact that she's a librarian, has an IQ of 210 and a photographic memory, and managed to teach Naruto the basic principles of centripetal force in about thirty seconds? Not really."

"210?"

"Yup. Well, that's what all of our reports say, but it might be higher. Anyway, I'm gonna go get some sleep. The kid's getting a little faster with those laps again, and I have a feeling I'm going to need it."

"… 210?" Kakashi, wondering how it was that Naruto always happened upon the perfect person for whatever situation he was in, went back to his post. He had to admit, as he watched the two of them eat lunch, that Hoshi was right: she really was the perfect friend for him. Perpetually cheerful, energetic, full of laughter, and kind. She enjoyed his company as much as he enjoyed hers, and she was probably the only person Naruto had ever met who had been unconditionally kind to him from the start.

The two just sat together, spending more time talking than eating, getting to know each other. Most of the things they talked about were fairly trivial; Mabui knew enough to avoid the topic of Naruto's past. Kakashi was a little surprised to see that her face never faltered when Naruto mentioned his dream of being the greatest Hokage, indicating that she believed wholeheartedly that he would succeed. Considering that she had never seen him in action, it was hard to believe that someone of her intelligence could have such blind faith in the boy.

/_So begins a beautiful friendship… or something like that._/

* * *

"Let's see, how can I explain this? By 'magnitude' they just mean the amount of force. As for velocity, that's just the speed the thing is moving at."

"Oh… I guess that makes sense, but I still don't really get it."

"Hold on." Mabui went to her desk, retrieved a pen and some paper, and came back to Naruto. "Let's go back to the example we used earlier, forgetting the cart. The average horse is, what, 1000 lbs?" As he honestly didn't know, Naruto just shrugged. "Well, let's just leave it at that for now..." She scribbled it down on the paper. "As for velocity, a horse's steps are probably about three feet, and most horses probably take one step per second or so, so we'll just say three feet per second." She wrote down the new figure. "Assuming that you want to force the horse to walk in a circle with a diameter of forty feet," she wrote this down as well, " you would need to apply… 450 lbs of constant pressure."

"That's it? But the horse weighs so much more than that!"

"Yeah, but I already told you, you and the horse are working together. Applying force to a body in motion will cause..."

Kakashi just watched in awe as Mabui held Naruto's interest for five more hours with, of all things, physics. He was surprised, to say the least, that Naruto was trying to understand the physics of the rasengan. How it was supposed to help, Kakashi had no idea, but he knew it couldn't hurt. What amazed him was the fact that Mabui managed to explain things like centripetal force and vector addition to Naruto in such a way that the boy could understand. Even he, the elite genius jounin, was learning a few new things from their conversation. In fact, he was slightly disappointed when it came to a close.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, the library's going to close soon…"

"Already? But we just got started…"

"I could let you stay late, if you like! I'm pretty much in charge around here, so it isn't a problem."

"No, that's okay. I should try out all of this stuff you've taught me today and see if it's helping yet!" He put on a big grin, surprised that he didn't have to fake it.

"If you say so…" /_Kuso! Well, maybe next time…_/ "Just remember: any time you need any help, I'm always at the ready!"

"Thanks, Mabui-chan!" And with that he was gone.

"He's going to make an excellent Hokage, don't you think?"

Kakashi was a little startled. "You knew I was there? So they were right, you are a genius…"

"Does that mean you agree with me, or are you just commenting on my observational skills?"

"… A little of both."

* * *

"So, according to what Mabui-chan was telling me earlier, my problem is that the hands aren't working together. I think. Instead of avoiding the other rotation-thingies, they're meeting head-on. If their, what did she call them, 'magnitudes' are equal, they cancel out, and otherwise the stronger one continues on in a weakened state… Yatta! I actually understood it!"

Kakashi was getting frustrated. /_I'm a jounin for God's sake! Why the hell can't I figure out what he's doing? Is it just because I don't know how to use the rasengan?_/ The main part of why watching Naruto develop Naruto senkou no jutsu had been fun was that Kakashi had known what Naruto was trying to do, and he could gauge the boy's progress. Watching a boy standing in a forest with his hands a foot apart, talking to himself, was not something that interested the jounin.

"Hmm… I guess that means I'll have to find a way to make them not collide. Maybe if I put them on different timings…?" Grinning at how much Mabui had helped him, Naruto tried to do just that.

Five minutes later, the blond sat on the ground with a heavy sigh. "Kuso! I can't get the timings right! Rasengan takes enough concentration normally! How am I supposed to concentrate on two hands… at… once! That's it!" Jumping back up, Naruto formed a kage bunshin. "If I can only concentrate on one hand at a time, then someone else needs to concentrate on the other hand!"

Standing side-by-side, Naruto and his bunshin prepared the technique. Naruto held out his right palm towards his bunshin's left palm, and Naruto went first. Taking turns adding rotations to the rasengan, Naruto and his bunshin were able to create… nothing. The process of synching with the bunshin was more difficult than Naruto had anticipated.

As midnight came around, no progress had been made on the technique. Kakashi, who had almost fallen asleep several times, followed a frustrated Naruto home before leaving Hoshi in charge. It escaped the jounin how Naruto could have gone from dropout to genius and back to dropout in the course of less than a month, but he didn't really want to think about it. For all he knew, Naruto's idea, whatever it was, was going to be some spectacular all-powerful jutsu that could kill hundreds of ninja in the blink of an eye.

* * *

Wednesday rolled around, and Naruto was making almost no progress with his technique. The additional days of study with Mabui had helped him understand the rasengan almost completely, but they hadn't helped him understand the problem with his new technique. As he pulled on the library door, confident that Mabui's help would eventually get the problem solved, he found that it wouldn't open.

Trying the door a few more times, he was sure that it was locked. "Chikushou! What am I supposed to do now?" Several minutes of complaining later, a thought occurred to Naruto. /_Oh yeah, she gave me her address… I don't really want to bug her at home, though. Hmm… Well, maybe we could go out to lunch again! I remember thinking a lot better after having lunch with her the first time, so it might help._/

Hoshi, crying on the inside, followed as Naruto sprinted across town to his apartment, and then back across town to Mabui's apartment. It wouldn't have been too bad, except that Naruto had not only just finished his morning run, he had finished it in record time. Some days, it just didn't pay to be an ANBU.

Naruto just stood outside of Mabui's apartment, unsure of what to do. No one had ever _given_ him their address before, much less invited him to come to their home whenever he wanted to. He couldn't help but think that it would be rude to show up unannounced, even if she had said it would be okay. What if she had company, or was still asleep? Or worse, what if she was sick? He definitely didn't want her to strain herself.

In the end, he decided that he wanted to talk to Mabui badly enough that he didn't mind the rudeness factor. She had been the one to invite him over unprompted, after all, and she hadn't said what times would be convenient, so he had no real reason not to give it a shot. He knocked twice.

"Coming!" Naruto could hear the sound of pans crashing to the ground and dresser drawers being thrown open. So he _had_ woken her up… "Oh, Naruto-kun! Can I help you with something?"

"Uh… I'm sorry to bug you while you're sleeping, but I couldn't get into the library for some reason, and--"

"Oh, you didn't know? The Konoha library is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays…"

"What? Why Wednesdays and Thursdays?"

"Someone figured out that those were the days when the smallest number of people used the library, and that librarians needed two days off per week, so they just used those days. I could let you in though!"

"Huh? Oh, that's okay. I actually came to ask if you wanted to have lunch with me, but if I'm bugging you it's alright--"

"Bugging me? Don't be ridiculous! I'd love to have lunch with you! I was going to go to that ramen place you showed me anyway, I've never had ramen so good!"

"You really want to have lunch with me?"

"Of course! Just let me grab my shoes…"

With the way he had been training, it was an extremely odd feeling for Naruto to _walk_ to Ichiraku's, but he didn't mind. The extra time gave him a chance to talk to Mabui a little bit more. When they finally arrived they both started off with ten bowls of ramen: four miso, four pork, and two teriyaki chicken.

"So, Naruto-kun, how's your technique coming along? Has your studying been paying off?"

Naruto's face darkened slightly. "Well, a little… I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, but I know I'm missing something. Still, I'm a lot farther along than I would have been without your help!"

"That's good!"

The ramen arrived, at which point they yelled in unison "itadakimasu!" and began eating.

"What does the technique do?"

"It's a little hard to explain… Basically I'm taking a technique that someone else invented and making it better! The technique rotates air in a ball with chakra, creating a little typhoon, and--"

"Like Yondaime's technique?"

"Eh?"

"Yondaime had a technique like that, he called it--"

"Rasengan. Yeah, that's the technique that I'm improving. How do you know about it? I don't remember seeing it in that scroll that you gave me about him, and I know it isn't one of his famous techniques…"

"Oh, well, uh…" Mabui looked like she was trying to hide something, so Naruto cut her off.

"You don't have to tell me, I was just curious. Anyway, I'm trying to make a little change to the technique that should make it way more powerful, but it's turning out to be harder than I thought it would be…"

There were a few moments of silence as they both ate their ramen. "Could you show me your technique? Maybe I could help you figure out what's wrong."

"Are you serious?" It seemed a little ridiculous that she would waste her day off helping him train. "You'd give up your plans to help me?"

"Well, yes, but I didn't really have any plans."

"No way! A great person like you?"

"Yeah, well… My dad was killed during the Kyuubi attack, and my little brother died shortly thereafter. That takes care of my family, except my mother, who I can't stand in the least. I haven't really had any friends since I was a kid, mostly because I can't stand jerks that don't recognize a hero for what he is, and I don't have much of a love life, so--"

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

"Calling you what?"

"A hero. It's not like I really did anything…"

"That's not true! You're the most heroic person I've ever met!" Naruto looked up from his ramen. "It might be true that you didn't have any choice when it came to… you-know-what, but you still saved the lives of all of the villagers! Not only that, but the way you've handled things has been, well, amazing! Growing up completely alone, with people fearing and hating you when they should have been loving and honoring you, you still managed to become such a cool person! A determined, hard working, caring, funny dreamer, who'll stop at nothing to protect the people he cares about! And that's just what I've seen of you in the few days since I met you! Even though these people have hated you all of your life, and they let you know it, you turned around and sought the job of being their protector! You've got a strong spirit, Naruto-kun, and that makes you a hero as far as I'm concerned!"

Even Ayame and the old man were left staring in shock after her outburst. They had to admit to themselves, though, that she had a pretty damned good point. Most people would have killed themselves in Naruto's position, or else killed everyone around them, but Naruto had taken to the idea of becoming their protector: the Hokage…

"You really think that? Even though your dad--"

"That wasn't you! That was the thing that you saved us from! If I hear you associate that thing with yourself again, I swear I'll hit you! Anyone who hates you because they lost a family member should be thanking you that they didn't get killed as well, and you shouldn't let them get away with blaming you for its actions!"

Naruto smiled for a moment before frowning again. "So… the reason that you don't get along with people is me? I'm wrecking your life?"

"Far from it, actually." Her face lit up. "That's one more reason I've always thought of you as a hero, actually. I can separate out the completely idiotic jerks from the reasonable people based on how they think of you! It's true that there are people who dislike me simply because I don't dislike you, but those are people I never would have wanted to get involved with anyway. The way I see it, you're saving me from involving myself with the wrong kinds of people!" Naruto's grin flickered back to life. "So, will you show me the technique?"

"Technique...? Oh, right… sure! If you really have nothing better to do, I could use the help."

"Cool!" /_I hope I can help…_/ "Let's go right after lunch then!"

Kakashi arrived a few minutes later, five minutes before he was supposed to go on duty. Although it had been extremely difficult for him to arrive early (for a real reason), Tsunade had been very persuasive in the matter, as he had an extra side-mission. Seeing the pair eating quickly and quietly, he decided that it would be the perfect time to interrupt.

"Yo, Naruto."

"Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here?"

Mabui's smile faltered as she looked up from her ramen. "This is your sensei?" /_Why was his sensei the one sent to spy on him?_/

"Yeah, I'm his sensei. Anyway, Naruto, I was told to give you this," he handed Naruto an envelope, "and to tell you to expect the rest in the mail."

"Rest? Rest of what?"

"Your pay… You didn't really think that Tsunade-sama was going to stop giving you missions and leave you to starve to death, did you?"

"Pay? How can I get pay without doing missions?"

"You're technically on paid leave right now, Naruto. Unless you'd rather not be paid, because I'm sure I can arrange that--"

"No! Don't do that!"

Seeing the boy nearing tears, Kakashi couldn't help but think that Naruto was just no fun. "It's okay, Naruto, I was just joking."

Instantly cheering up, Naruto asked the first question that came to mind: "How much am I getting?"

"She didn't tell me, but probably not very much."

Completely missing the fact that the first check had taken more than three weeks to get to him, Naruto opened the envelope to see how much the check was worth. His mouth opened, but no sound came out, and his eyes became as wide as they had ever been.

"Naruto-kun?" Seeing him completely freeze up for several seconds, Mabui peeked over his shoulder at the check. "How much is it wo-- oh my god! That's a lot of money!"

"Hmm? Let me see…" Kakashi couldn't help but be interested after Mabui's reaction. His face would have been priceless if it hadn't been hidden. "What! That's more than I get paid for S-rank missions! She's giving you this much every week!" He realized only a moment too late that hysteria is not cool, and embarrassedly recomposed himself. "Yeah, well… I have to go now, Naruto. I've got a mission. Later."

Naruto stood completely still, staring at the check for a few moments, until Ayame commented that his ramen was getting cold. He and Mabui instantly continued with their lunch, not wanting to let perfectly good ramen go to waste.

* * *

Naruto and Mabui arrived at training ground seven at about 12:30. Mabui, who had never bothered to attend the academy because she had never had a desire to be a ninja, was getting slightly anxious. From everything that she had read of ninja techniques, most of the difficulty was in chakra manipulation, and she had no experience with that. She decided to trust Naruto's judgment, considering that he was a professional. "So, Naruto-kun, why don't you start by showing me the original technique?"

"Yoshi!" Naruto, utterly convinced that Mabui would figure out the problem, formed a kage bunshin, which proceeded to swirl chakra in his hand. A few seconds later he dispelled the bunshin and held out the newly formed rasengan for Mabui to look at. "This is the rasengan that Yondaime came up with."

Mabui stared at it for a few seconds, seemingly in a daze, before switching her gaze to Naruto and adopting a serious look. "Okay, I think I've gleaned all I can from seeing this one. What was your idea to make it better?"

"Huh? Oh, right…" He quickly explained his idea and his progress, which Mabui took a moment to process. "Do you know what I'm doing wrong?"

Mabui stayed silent, a frown on her face. When Naruto went to ask her again, though, she cut him off. "I might, but I'm not really sure. Could I see you try it?"

"Okay…" Naruto was a little embarrassed to be demonstrating an unfinished technique to Mabui, but if it was going to help… Naruto and his newly formed kage bunshin stood side-by-side, just like every other time, and started their technique. Mabui watched intently as the technique seemed to work, but suddenly stopped for no apparent reason. She had been right after all. "I don't know why, but it always stops right there…"

"It doesn't have enough room."

Naruto stared dumbly at her for a second. "Huh? What do you mean? It's just spinning air, how can it not have enough room?"

"It's not just spinning air, Naruto-kun." The seriousness of her tone freaked him out a little bit, and she could tell, but she didn't let it bother her. "Your chakra mixes with the air, taking up space on the surface of the sphere. The original attack never had space as a factor because, despite you bunshin's method of introducing rotation, it could pretty much be as big as it wanted to sitting on your hand. It auto-sized itself to be as compact as possible with the amount of chakra that you were pouring into it, which made it more powerful than if it had been more loosely put together."

"Uh… oh, I get it. But what does that have to do--"

"Everything. Because you're trying to add more directions of rotation, you're putting more chakra into the technique, which means that the technique will take up more space. It looked like you and your bunshin left barely enough space for a normal rasengan, meaning that your new technique was out of the question."

"So…" When Naruto finished processing what she had said, his got the biggest smile that Mabui had ever seen. "So all I have to do is give it more room! Yatta! Thank you so much, Mabui-chan!" Just glad that she could be of help, Mabui smiled on as Naruto got ready to try the technique again.

Getting the distance down was not as easy as it sounded, however. Naruto tried for hours, Mabui watching all the while, but he couldn't get the technique to work. If the hands were too far apart, the rotations never met, and if the hands were close enough for the chakra to meet, it would fizzle out after a few seconds. Just as Mabui was getting frustrated, thinking that she had either been wrong or overlooked something, Naruto thought of something.

"I have an idea, Mabui-chan!" He put on a big fox grin. "You said that the rasengan adjusts its size while it's being formed, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, I think so… I'm not a ninja, but that's what it looked like."

"Can you think of any reason that it couldn't adjust from small to big?" She shook her head slowly, trying to grasp his idea. "Just watch." He put his hand out just far enough from the bunshin's for a normal-sized rasengan. As the rasengan started forming, he and his bunshin pulled their hands apart. They did it far too quickly, resulting in the technique's dispersal, but Mabui understood his idea.

"That's a great idea, Naruto-kun! I never would have thought of that!" /_I really wouldn't have…_/ "It'll probably throw off your timing a bit, but I'm sure it'll work eventually!"

Naruto's grin just grew wider. A few hours later, the grin was completely gone. He hadn't even managed to get the separation speed down, let alone the technique. Even Mabui's cheer had visibly fallen several notches. She had been sure that he would get the hang of it quickly, but, then again, she didn't really know what 'quickly' meant in the ninja world.

Kakashi, watching from his hiding spot, knew exactly what 'quickly' meant in the ninja world. For five hours, he had watched Naruto progress more quickly than he could ever have imagined. The boy showed more intuition and determination than the sannin, Yondaime, and Kakashi combined. Even though he hadn't understood the explanation that Naruto had given, he could tell that Naruto was going to get it within a few days, at the rate he was going.

"I think that's it for today, Mabui-chan."

"You're giving up already, Naruto-kun?"

"Of course not!" His grin returned. "I'll just have to keep trying tomorrow! There's other training I need to do today, and I don't want to fall behind."

"You have more training? Do you mind if I stay and watch?"

"You want to watch…? Why?"

"I don't know, I just do!" Her smile finally returned. "Do you mind or not?"

"I guess not…"

"Great! We should get some dinner first, though. It can't be healthy for you to train all night without eating."

After dinner, Naruto's training amazed Mabui. She knew that ninja had more stamina and strength than normal people, but he was expending more energy than she did in a month, and he didn't even look winded!

Naruto, meanwhile, couldn't understand why she would want to watch him repeatedly punch and kick a log, jump rope, and do push-ups, sit-ups, and squats, but she refused to leave unless he said that he specifically didn't want her there. He couldn't bring himself to lie to her, so she stayed.

By the time that midnight rolled around, Mabui was still watching. Even she couldn't say exactly what had caused her to stay so long, but she felt no desire to leave. Naruto, finishing his last squat, looked over to her. "That's it for today…"

She smiled at him. "Then I'll see you tomorrow!"

He glared at her suspiciously for a moment. "Why are you so interested in me?"

"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?"

"I mean exactly what I asked Mabui-chan. Why are you so interested in me? It's one thing to be willing to help me, but you almost act like there's nothing you'd rather do than hang around me all day! You must have a reason…"

"…I don't really know. A big part of it is that you're just fun to be around, and some of it is that you remind me of my dad, but… there's just something about you. I can't really explain it, but I feel better being around you. Better about myself, my life, my everything." She stared off into space for a moment before continuing, "I guess it's just the kind of person you are! Your attitude, your actions, what you say and how you say it… I can't get enough of you!"

Naruto, taking this the wrong way, panicked. /_Kuso! Why'd she have to fall in love with me! Aside from the fact that she's seven years older than me, it just seems… creepy!_/ Laughing nervously, he tried to let her down easy. "Um, Mabui-chan… I, er… I don't really like you quite, er, _that_ way, but--"

Immediately figuring out what he was thinking, Mabui had a sudden urge to vomit. Something about the idea of Naruto even thinking that she had feelings for him felt sick and wrong. "Oh! No, I didn't mean it like that!" Seeing his face relax slightly made Mabui much more comfortable. "I meant it in a platonic way, like a family member or a really close friend!"

/_Oh thank god!_/

Naruto walked Mabui home, but not before she made him promise to have lunch with her the next day. Kakashi, making a mental note to report a few things to Tsunade in the morning, switched with Hoshi before going to get some sleep.

* * *

Kakashi really didn't like the way that his meeting had turned out, but he really had no choice about what he was about to do. Although he had tried to assure Tsunade that Mabui's intentions were pure, she demanded to meet the girl. With a sigh, he came out of the shadows. Orders are orders, after all.

"Yo, Naruto."

"Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing at Mabui-chan's apartment?"

"Well, Naruto…" /_How can I put this so as _not_ to piss him off?_/ "I'm actually here to see Mabui."

"Who, me?" Mabui, having only spoken with Kakashi twice, was more than a little surprised. "Why?"

"Tsunade-sama asked to see you. I'm supposed to take you as soon as possible."

"What!" Naruto was outraged. "Why does baa-chan want to see Mabui-chan right now? We were about to go to lunch!"

Kakashi sighed. This didn't promise to be easy. "She just wants to ask Mabui a few questions, Naruto." Seeing Mabui getting worried, he added, "it's nothing bad, Mabui-san." She didn't cheer up. "Hmm… I probably shouldn't do this, but why don't you guys have lunch before we go?"

Mabui looked even more worried. "What? I can't let you get in trouble for me! If you keep Hokage-sama waiting, she could--"

"Don't worry about it." Kakashi's eye smiled. "I'm pretty well known for being late, and it really isn't that important anyway. I've already told her the answers to all of her questions, she just wants to hear it from you."

"Oh." She smiled and turned to Naruto. "So, Naruto, where do you want to go for lunch? I feel like going to Ichiraku's again, but if you'd rather have something else I wouldn't mind."

Naruto, of course, didn't feel like going somewhere else. Twenty bowls of ramen (each) later, Naruto and Mabui had to part ways. Mabui was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to help Naruto with his technique, but she knew that she couldn't oppose the leader of the village.

As Kakashi led her in the office, Mabui felt a little anxious. What kind of questions did the Hokage have for her, and why weren't Kakashi's answers satisfactory? Kakashi had made it pretty clear on their first meeting that she had been thoroughly researched, and as a civilian she wasn't exactly a master of hiding things like ninja were. Try as she might, she couldn't think of what questions were coming, which of course meant that she couldn't prepare herself for them. Tsunade's angry voice jerked her out of her thoughts.

"You're late Kakashi!"

"Ah, sorry Tsunade-sama. I was attacked on the way to her apartment by three merchants from wind country carrying a magic lamp, and--"

"Save your stories for Gai, Kakashi! Where the hell were you?"

Mabui wasn't really sure that it was a good idea, but she didn't want Kakashi to get in trouble, so she said the first thing that came to her head. "It's my fault, Tsunade-sama." Clearly, it had been the wrong time to speak, as Tsunade gave her a look somewhere between "who asked you!" and "I will kill you in the most inconceivably horrible and painful way I can think of!" Still, in an amazing feat of bravery that few jounin were capable of, she continued to speak in coherent sentences. "Kakashi-san told me that you wanted to see me immediately, and that you had important questions to ask me, but I insisted on having lunch first. If you're going to blame anyone, blame me."

"Nice try, but I know you're lying." Tsunade was bluffing, of course. Mabui's lie had been completely flawless, but Tsunade knew Kakashi too well to believe that he would have said the questions were important. "What really happened Kakashi? It had better not involve Naruto, or so help me I'll--"

"Why can't it have involved Naruto?"

"I'll deal with you in a moment, so I suggest you keep quiet until then. Kakashi, answer the question."

Kakashi, who had been interrupted the first two times he had tried to answer, waited a moment to make sure that there wouldn't be any interruptions. "I allowed her to have lunch with Naruto before coming here, Tsunade-sama. She eats as much ramen as Naruto, actually, which is why it took so long."

"YOU LET HER HAVE LUNCH WITH NARUTO? I specifically ordered that you not allow her to have contact with Naruto until after I have this talk with her! As it is, with her skill in lying, I'm tempted to have ANBU lock her up just to be safe! If she turns out to be a spy I'm holding you personally responsible for any--"

"I already told you, Tsunade-sama, she isn't a spy." Kakashi sighed. He really didn't appreciate having his judgment questioned this completely, even if Tsunade was just trying to look out for Naruto. "The idea is ridiculous. When she first met Naruto, she practically worshipped the ground he walked on and--"

"That's exactly why it's suspicious Kakashi! You know as well as I do that the people of this town, especially civilians, hold an irrational hatred of Naruto. She's old enough to know about Kyuubi, so it's absurd for you to trust her because she _doesn't_ hate him! I don't like it any more than you, but that's just--" Tsunade stopped speaking as Mabui slapped her in the face.

Tsunade had crossed the line, and Mabui wasn't about to let her get away with it. "You think that people who recognize a hero can't be trusted? It's 'absurd' to trust me because I don't hate the boy to whom I owe my life! Wow, that really is suspicious! You'd better arrest me now before I start calling Sandaime and Yondaime heroes too, you old hag!" Tsunade, still holding her face where Mabui had slapped it, stared at Kakashi in shock. He hadn't been kidding: she really did get angry at people who didn't recognize Naruto as a hero. Overriding her fear of getting slapped again, Tsunade decided to answer the poor girl.

"I didn't… I didn't mean it like that." Another slap met her face.

"Yes you did! You wouldn't have even felt badly about it if I hadn't pointed out how horrible the idea was! Hell, you were one step from saying that Naruto-kun is better off without friends, because anyone who would associate with him is suspicious! That you could actually think that… That someone Naruto-kun likes and respects as much as you could actually think such a thing about him is horrifying! Even if the villagers are betraying him, at least they aren't doing it from the position of a friend!"

If she could have gotten away with it, Mabui would have stormed out of the office, but she somehow doubted that the ANBU at the door were left as speechless as the Hokage in front of her. Kakashi, however, was. He merely stared wide-eyed at the idea of someone not only standing up to Tsunade while she was in a bad temper, but slapping her, twice, and living to tell the tale. Tsunade hung her head in shame, realizing how true Mabui's statements were.

"For what it's worth… I'm sorry. I just want what's best for Naruto, and considering the people who are out to get him right now, we really can't afford to be lenient on anyone."

Mabui thought for a few moments. "Is this about Uchiha Itachi?"

"How do you know that?" Even Kakashi adopted a (somewhat relaxed) fighting stance at the mention of Itachi. "That is the single most classified piece of information in Konoha! There's no way you can possibly know about that group if you're an average civilian!"

"Group? I thought Uchiha Itachi was a single person, not a group…"

"Don't play stupid! You can't possibly know that Itachi is after Naruto unless you know about Akatsuki!"

"Akatsuki? So there's a group called Akatsuki after Naruto, and the perpetrator of the Uchiha massacre is in it? _That's_ why Jiraiya-sama was acting strangely…"

"You know Jiraiya? That changes everything… He never could shut up around cute girls."

Mabui suddenly smiled. "You really think I'm cute?"

Kakashi gave her a quick glance before deciding that she had to be kidding. She was easily the most stunningly beautiful girl he had seen in his entire perverted life. Tsunade, thinking along the same lines but with a more jealous twinge, took a moment to respond. "If you know Jiraiya, I'm surprised you don't know more about Akatsuki than I do."

* * *

Mabui left Tsunade's office extremely disappointed. Although she had managed to completely clear her name, she had spent the entire day doing it, finally leaving at midnight. She had no chance to help Naruto develop his technique, and she was most likely not going to get to be there when he finished it.

Naruto was fairly disappointed as well. He had finally gotten down the speed at which his hand needed to separate from the bunshin's, but the timing was drastically different during the separation than before or after it. If Mabui had been able to come he was sure that she would have been able to help somehow, but she had never shown up.

On Friday, he stopped by the library, and the pair had lunch, but Mabui couldn't think of any way to help Naruto. She did have to work, after all. He had been extremely curious about what Tsunade had wanted, but Mabui didn't tell him anything. Training continued as usual, resulting in Naruto not quite having the technique down, but he was showing plenty of promise.

* * *

It was on Saturday that Kakashi decided that Jiraiya could take his books and shove them up his… well, you know. Naruto, finally succeeding in getting the timings down, had tested his new variation on the rasengan. To say that it was more powerful than its predecessor would be like saying that a bolt of lightning is more powerful than static cling, in Kakashi's opinion at least. Not only was the tree he attacked completely obliterated, but the impact caused a sphere of destruction at least twenty times as large as the attack itself. The ground was cracked, fifteen trees were completely destroyed, and the winds released had knocked over several other trees. Rasengan would have just damaged the main target, and that would have been the end of it.

Naruto concluded the day by giving his attack a name: "oodama rasengan (great sphere rasengan)." Kakashi concluded the day by leaving a scroll and a note on Naruto's table before Hoshi arrived, hoping against hope that Hoshi didn't notice, and deciding that another talk with Gai would be necessary.

* * *

**A/N: **Told you it'd be longer! On another, slightly more random note, I've developed a small crush on my own original character. I guess it's to be expected, considering that I modeled her personality after what I would look for in a girl, but I still find it kind of creepy… For those of you who would bother to look up the name, "mabui" means "cute" in Japanese. I didn't mention her surname because I'm not entirely sure what I want it to be yet. Please tell me if her explanations didn't make sense (or were wrong in some way). I've never taken a physics course or anything, and _I'm_ not a super-genius, even if she is…

Just to warn you, I probably _won't_ be including the technique that Kishimoto is having Naruto develop under Kakashi. If I do (which will only be if it's particularly badass _and_ feasible) it'll be _way_ later in the story, as I already have him developing techniques _I_ came up with. Sorry, but it really wouldn't make sense for Kakashi to give him that special training right now anyway, as you'll see in the next chapter. I came up with all of the techniques I want Naruto to learn before Kishimoto started the new technique arc, so I really didn't fit it into my plans...

I'm not exactly sure about the order of events, but I _do_ have a plan for this story. If you're concerned about the lack of fighting, you should know that there will be plenty later, but you should also know that I've never written a fight scene before. I could be horrible at it, or I could be a prodigy, but we won't know for another few chapters… In the meantime, please review!


	3. Eyes Wide To Bursting

**Prove the Pervert Wrong**

**Chapter Three: Eyes Wide To Bursting**

**Disclaimer: Seriously, I don't own Naruto. This disclaimer shouldn't really be necessary a third time, yet here we are…**

"Speech"

/_Thoughts_/

"**Jutsu!**"

* * *

**Pre-Chapter A/N:** Alright, some people are complaining about my use of shunshin. For the record, I already knew the difference between shunshin and haraishin and that haraishin is the reason that Yondaime is called "Konoha's Yellow Flash." I was, however, under the impression that shunshin no jutsu was _also_ unique to him, probably because of manga chapter 240 (page 10). Rin says "Sensei's shunshin no jutsu," implying that it's _his_ technique. It took me forever to find the raw, but Inane's translation was indeed correct. "Sensei no shunshin no jutsu" does in fact mean the same thing as "Sensei's shunshin no justu," if you can even call something that basic a translation (I'm not sure what else I would call it…)…

My memory is not recalling any other shinobi being specifically mentioned as using the technique, but I _am_ in the process of reading through the entire manga again just to make sure I didn't miss it (a slow process, given my lack of spare time lately). **_Even if I was wrong, it isn't coming out of this story_**. It's too late; I've integrated it a little too much. Yondaime has a whole background in this story, and shunshin plays a big enough part in it that things need to stay the way they are. Please point out exactly where someone else was said to have used it, if you find such a thing, but be aware that this story won't reflect that. Future stories will, obviously, but only if I actually find something in the manga that proves me wrong.

Sorry to be such an ass about it, but that's the way it's gonna be. If that ruins the story for you… sorry, but that's life. Nothing's perfect, after all. Putting that aside, on with the story!

* * *

"As much as I admire his youthful spirit Kakashi, I can't just--"

"Gai, just listen." Kakashi was interrupting Gai and Lee during their morning training to talk about Naruto, but Gai wasn't in the mood to talk about it again. Still, Kakashi couldn't let himself fail Naruto again, not when the boy was showing so much promise. "Naruto is turning out to be some kind of closet genius. From what I've seen, I would bet my life that he'll be Hokage, with or without your help. All I'm asking you to do is give him a little boost to help him improve more quickly--"

"That's _not_ all you're asking me to do, Kakashi! If that was the only thing to consider, I'd have helped him without you asking me! You can't honestly think that I would risk opposing Jiraiya-sama to--"

"You know Gai, Jiraiya doesn't have to know."

"How would he not know! Is he supposed to just think that some other teacher gave Naruto giant leg weights that say 'guts?'"

"I could tell Naruto to hide the weights and not mention them to anyone…"

"But then he'll get suspicious, and--"

"And I'll blow off his questions like I always do." Seeing that Gai was still looking unsure, Kakashi decided to throw in one last incentive. "Also… Tsunade-sama will be _very_ happy with anyone who helps Naruto right now. She might even be willing to do that thing you were asking about the other day."

Gai's eyes widened. "You mean she might--"

"Yup. But, if you're too scared of Jiraiya, I guess that you'll never get her to do it."

"No! Er, I mean… The burning passion of youth shall not be doused by the foolishness of elders! Take these," he took off his own weights, "to Naruto, and tell him to revel in the springtime of life!" He handed the weights to Kakashi, who promptly fell over.

"Gai, how much do these weigh?"

"About 1,000 pounds, why?"

Kakashi managed to pick them up off of the ground, but mused that he might have thrown his back out in the process. "Don't you think that's a bit much?"

"Naruto's youthful spirit can handle it! Just make sure that Jiraiya never finds out."

"Yeah, whatever." Kakashi really hadn't been listening for a response, so he had no idea what it was that Gai had said, but he was sure it wasn't worth hearing again.

"Curse you Kakashi! Your attitude is 'hip,' which makes--"

"You angry, blah blah blah… Later." With that he was gone, leaving an infuriated Gai to his training.

* * *

When Naruto woke up that morning, he got quite a surprise. A week earlier he wouldn't have even glanced at his table in the morning, but Mabui had impressed on him that eating three meals a day could benefit his training, so he made some ramen for breakfast. Sitting down to eat, he found Kakashi's note and scroll. He started with the note, which read:

"_Naruto,_

_You'll have to keep this a secret, but the scroll I left you is a special scroll only accessible by jounin and the Hokage. In it you'll find instructions for a technique that extends kage bunshin no jutsu. Gai probably has something to give you too, I'll have to check._

—_Kakashi"_

There was a crude drawing of Pakkun showing a peace sign in the bottom-right corner. Naruto re-read the note suspiciously a few times, not sure what to think. The last he remembered, Kakashi and Gai had declined to train him altogether, neither giving a real reason. He couldn't imagine any reason for them to change their minds, but he decided to take the help where he could get it. After his customary morning laps, bunshin sparring tournament, and lunch with Mabui, Naruto headed towards training ground seven, only to be stopped by Kakashi.

"Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei? Why are _you_ here?"

"Gai had a present for me to give you." He tried to hold the weights out casually, but instead fell over again. "I would have been here sooner, but it's hard to run with these things."

Naruto looked like he was about to weep with joy. He had wanted to try wearing those weights ever since he had seen Lee remove them during the chuunin exam, and now he had his own pair to work with. From the looks of things, they were even heavier than Lee's, too. He was sure to get strong quickly if he used those in his training.

"Well, what are you waiting for Naruto? Put them on already."

"Yoshi!" Naruto eagerly reached down to grab the weights, but couldn't quite stand back up. With Kakashi's help, he managed to get the weights on under his pant legs, but was barely able to move his legs at all. "Super-brows has weights like this on all the time? How much do these things _weigh_?"

"That's not important." /_I am _not_ looking forward to our next sparring match if he doesn't replace them…_/ "What is important is that you _never_ let anyone know about the weights or the scroll I gave you. Gai and I can get in a lot of trouble for this, so--"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would you get in trouble for training me? Does baa-chan hate me now or something?"

"The size of your paycheck should tell you that she doesn't hate you. Anyway, it's not Tsunade-sama, and I really can't tell you any more about it. Later." Naruto was about to ask again, but Kakashi disappeared. He continued (_very_ slowly) on to training ground seven, grumbling about secretive perverts the whole way.

Opening the scroll that Kakashi had left for him, Naruto was annoyed to see that it actually looked pretty complicated, but then the name of the technique caught his eye. "Bakuretsu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Exploding Shadow Clone Technique)? It _explodes_?" He was able to think of dozens of situations where that ability would be useful in a bunshin, and instantly knew that it was a perfect technique to go with his style. Still, it looked so complicated…

Reading through the scroll, Naruto found that it _was_ complicated. So complicated, in fact, that the author of the scroll had placed a warning and the jutsu rank in bold print, along with an explanation of what the ranks mean.

"**_Warning: Anyone attempting this technique should know that it is an A-rank ninjutsu, and will be well beyond the capabilities of most jounin. The ranking system is as follows:_**

**_S-rank: Beyond the abilities of most kage, most often requiring too much chakra to be practical. Usually never taught because no one can learn other than the creator._**

**_A-rank: Kage or elite jounin level, most likely requiring ridiculous amounts of chakra and/or control._**

**_B-rank: Jounin level, difficult to learn and too draining for most chuunin to use._**

**_C-rank: Chuunin level, most ninja with a few years of field experience can master in a matter of weeks._**

**_D-rank: Gennin level, the most basic techniques such as bunshin no jutsu and kawarimi no jutsu._**

**_If you are not a kage or among the best jounin in your village in ninjutsu, it is highly recommended that you not bother to attempt this technique, as it will likely be too difficult for you."_**

Below the warning, Naruto could see that Kakashi had scribbled a little note for him.

"_Naruto, just thought you should know: chidori is a B-rank technique, and rasengan is an A-rank technique.The new version of rasengan that you developed has been classified as S-rank, and the 'Naruto senkou no jutsu' has been classified as B-rank."_

Naruto read through the note twice before realizing something very odd: he had skipped straight from gennin-level techniques to jounin-level techniques, _before_ getting any field experience. The next thing he realized was that he had never told anyone, even Mabui, about Naruto senkou no jutsu. Eventually he reasoned that whatever ANBU had been watching him at the time must have reported it to Tsunade, who in turn told Kakashi. As for why they had bothered to rank his technique, he found he didn't care.

After reading through the instructions for the technique, Naruto was fairly confident that he would be able to get the hang of it in a day or two. His hands flew into the boar, dragon, and kage bunshin seals, he molded his chakra, and… nothing. More accurately, a puff of ninja smoke which quickly cleared to _reveal_ nothing. Not one to be discouraged so easily, Naruto continued to try.

Kakashi, watching from his vantage point in the trees, was curious as to just how long it would take Naruto to learn the technique. Kakashi had spent the better part of two months mastering the move (because he was unable to find someone to copy it from), only to find that he didn't have the stamina necessary to effectively use it more than two or three times per day. Naruto, on the other hand, had more than enough stamina to use it twenty times per day. That the move would become an integral part of Naruto's style was obvious; the only variable factor was how long it would be before Naruto started using it, and Kakashi had decided that sooner was better than later.

* * *

"Chikushou! Heal _yourself_, you stupid rabbit!" Sakura had had enough of failing at this jutsu, but she knew that Tsunade wouldn't allow her to progress without it.

"Having a little trouble, Sakura?"

"Tsunade-shishou… why am I so pathetic?"

Of all the things that Tsunade would have thought to call Sakura, pathetic wasn't one of them. Hell, the girl was learning more quickly than Tsunade had learned at her age. "Where did that come from?"

"Well, it's just… I've only managed to learn three C-rank jutsu in the time I've been spending with you, and you're a sannin! Naruto, the dead-last of our class, was able to develop his own B-rank jutsu in the same amount of time, and he's working alone…"

"Naruto was the dead-last in your class? That's funny."

"What's funny about it?"

"Oh, just that he was probably only the dead-last because of the type of techniques they teach in the academy."

"What do you mean, Tsunade-shishou? The academy only teaches D-rank jutsu, which are--"

"The most basic and easiest to perform, yes. Normally. Naruto is a… special case, as far as techniques are concerned." At Sakura's quizzical look, she decided to explain. "There _is_ a reason that Naruto's chakra control has always been sub-par. From a young age, he's had a chakra capacity far beyond what he should have considering his level and the extent of his training. By the time he was learning to mold chakra, his chakra capacity was probably at about chuunin level."

"What! How can that be?"

"To be honest, I have no idea where he gets all of that chakra… Many of the more, how should I put this, _prejudiced_ jounin believe that his extra chakra comes from a certain condition that he has, but I don't think that's true. At any rate, he has the extra chakra, and it affects his chakra control greatly."

"How would having extra chakra make his control worse? Shouldn't it just mean that he has more to practice with?"

"Ah, but therein lies the problem." Sighing, as Sakura obviously didn't understand, Tsunade tried to think of how to explain. "The reason that chakra control needs to be taught while chakra capacity is still small is simple: it's easier to control how much of something you let out at a time if you have a small amount to begin with. I wish that Mabui was here to come up with a better example, but all I can think of is--"

"Who?"

"Mabui? Just a friend of Naruto's… Anyway, the only example I can think of is bladder control. When you learn bladder control, the muscle that holds the liquid in is weak, but the amount of liquid it needs to hold in is relatively small. As you grow older, even though the amount of liquid increases, the strength of the muscle increases, and everything balances out."

"Yeah, what about it?"

"To put the example in proportion… Imagine having that muscle at the strength of a newborn baby's, and a bladder the size of a fully-grown man"

"Oh… So, Naruto was a genius all of that time?"

"No. Genius isn't determined by raw potential, it's determined by natural skill. Although… even if his chakra levels made D- and C-rank techniques more difficult, they didn't make B- and A-rank techniques any easier, so his mastery of rasengan was definitely--"

"Rasengan? What's that?"

"You don't know? I would have thought you would have seen it at some point… Rasengan is an A-rank technique invented by Yondaime. The only people who have ever learned it are Yondaime, Jiraiya, and Naruto. Yondaime spent three years developing it, Jiraiya spent four months learning it from Yondaime, and Naruto learned it in roughly a week from Jiraiya."

"A week!"

"That's what I said. I had actually made a bet with Naruto that he wouldn't be able to learn the technique that quickly, and I lost my grandfather's necklace."

"He learned an A-rank technique in a week… and he didn't even gloat about it?"

"It would appear that way. Actually, Kakashi tells me he's already created a new S-rank technique that looks just like the rasengan, except that it's larger and many times more powerful."

"S-rank! But S-rank means--"

"Yes, it means that the technique is probably too difficult for most kage to master. Based on Kakashi's description, though, that rank is appropriate. Getting back to your original question: you aren't pathetic. Naruto is just incredibly gifted and determined, and you can't hope to compete. No one can. You've actually been progressing more quickly than I did at your age, so if you call yourself pathetic again I'll be tempted to hurt you."

Smiling at the revelation that her falling behind wasn't a sign of weakness, Sakura determined to strengthen her resolve and keep up with Naruto. She started towards the rabbit to try to heal it again, but realized she had one more question she had to ask. "Tsunade-shishou?"

"What is it now, Sakura?"

"Why bladder control? Couldn't you have used a floodgate or a dam or something?"

"I'm a medic, not an engineer. If you want better examples then get Mabui in here before you ask questions."

* * *

When Kakashi arrived at Ichiraku's to take over the next day, he was greeted by a _very_ happy Hoshi. Apparently the new weights were just a bit too much for Naruto, as they had slowed his lap time from two minutes and fifteen seconds to over an hour. Hoshi didn't know about the weights, and he didn't care enough to investigate, but Kakashi got a little nervous at such a drastic change. Several days passed before Naruto started to get used to the extra weight. By the end of the week he was back up to five laps per hour, which meant twenty-five laps per day. His technique wasn't going quite so well, but Kakashi wasn't really expecting him to get it within a week anyway.

Mabui found Naruto's sudden lack of ability to run or jump slightly disconcerting, but he told her that it was part of a new secret training regimen, and that it would make him stronger, so she let it go. When she saw that the size of his daily lunch had doubled she knew that he had to be working hard, and she didn't want to question his training unless she was sure that he was doing something unhealthy.

By the following Wednesday, Naruto was able to make bunshin that could explode, but the explosions were so small that he doubted they could really hurt anything. Mabui insisted on watching his training on Wednesdays and Thursdays, something he didn't object to, so she got to see the completed oodama rasengan demonstrated on some unsuspecting trees. To say that she was surprised by the power of the attack would be an understatement, and she found herself filling with pride in Naruto, and in herself for helping him.

It was on Friday that Sakura began to get over her jealousy enough to be worried for Naruto. Her teammate had seemed very depressed in the hospital after his failed mission, then he had turned around and become even more determined to keep his promise, and then… he stopped talking to her for six weeks! It was unlike Naruto to stop talking to her for two days, let alone six weeks! Something was clearly wrong, and she needed to know what.

"Tsunade-shishou?"

"What is it Sakura? Did you get that technique down already?"

"No, it's not that… I'm worried about Naruto. He hasn't spoken to me in six weeks, which is really weird, for him, and--"

"And you want to check on him personally, don't you?"

"Well yeah! He is my teammate, after all!"

"Is that really the only reason you want to see him?"

"What do you mean? Of course it is!"

Tsunade allowed herself a little laughter at that. "Alright then, if you say so. What do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking… if it's not too big of a problem, could you maybe get the team Kurenai and team Asuma the day off tomorrow? And team Gai?"

"You want me to take nine ninja off duty for a day to check up on one person?" /_In other words, the nine people his age that might be able to convince him to slow down… She must not understand just yet._/ "Hmm… okay."

"What? Just like that?"

"Of course. It's just one day, and they're all in town anyway. Besides, I feel like I owe Naruto something, and this'll be good for him." /_And you…_/

With that decided, Sakura went off in search of the other nine who she hoped would accompany her the next day. Naruto, meanwhile, was finally getting the jutsu down. He had used the technique several times, and he was sure that he was doing it correctly. Although it bothered him that what the scroll described as "ridiculous amounts of chakra" turned out to be less chakra than he had used to beat Mizuki, he supposed that it could be draining if used one or two hundred times. As he still had time before the library's closing time, he decided to work on another original technique that he had been thinking about.

As the library was about to close, Naruto found himself in a new predicament. The scroll he was reading was being surprisingly helpful, and he had a large stack of scrolls next to him that he wanted to read, but he wanted to take them to the training grounds with him for quicker reference. Running back and forth between the library and the training grounds seemed like more of a hassle than it needed to be, especially with Gai's weights.

"Mabui-chan?"

"What is it Naruto-kun?"

"Is it alright if I borrow these scrolls? I'll bring them back, I just--"

"Sure, you can check them out. Do you have your library card?"

"'Library card?' What's that?"

"You're kidding! You don't know what a library card is? We've got to get you one right away!"

"Why, what is it?"

Mabui, already filling out the paperwork to get Naruto's card, looked up at him as though trying to determine whether it was possible that he was actually standing there. After a moment she explained the purpose of a library card to him, which caused his eyes to widen.

"You mean people can just take stuff for weeks at a time for free? And all they have to do is get one of those cards?"

"That's the purpose of the library, Naruto-kun…" She shoved some papers at him, "sign here, here, and here." As he did so, she pulled out a library card that the machine had just finished making for him. "Here you go! Now we just need to check out your scrolls, and you're free to go!"

"Wow! Thanks Mabui-chan!"

When Naruto finally got back to the training grounds he did the most annoying thing Kakashi could imagine: he sat and read quietly. Kakashi had, of course, been hoping to watch Naruto develop another incredible technique. He had been so expectant, in fact, that he had left his perverted novels at home. All that he had left for entertainment was Naruto, who was reading… Actually, as Kakashi thought about it, he had no idea _what_ Naruto was reading.

Moving to another tree for a better look at the scroll in Naruto's hands, Kakashi almost face-faulted out of the tree. Naruto was reading a stack of scrolls that would be better suited to a first-year academy student. After mentally preparing himself for an _extremely_ boring night, Kakashi settled himself in a tree and began the struggle to keep his eye open.

* * *

"Thanks again for coming, guys."

"Of course, Sakura-san! I would hate to see Naruto-kun's youthful spirit be tainted by the same lust for power that drove Sasuke-kun away!" Everyone sweat-dropped, but secretly had the same reason for coming.

"So Forehead-girl, he honestly hasn't even _tried_ to contact you in six weeks?"

"No, he hasn't… From what Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-shishou have been saying, I think he's spent the entire time in some kind of super-intense training regimen. The part that worries me the most, though, is that his new best friend is the head librarian." Everyone stopped dead at Sakura's words. After a few moments of silence, Shikamaru decided that he couldn't resist asking an important question.

"How serious were those injuries from Sasuke again?" A few more moments of silence went by; apparently they had all thought it was a sarcastic question. "I'm serious…"

"Tsunade-shishou said that he sustained a mortal wound to the stomach, and his left arm looked torn up on the inside, but those injuries healed and other than that there was nothing wrong with him…"

"And we're sure she's the best medic available?" His comment earned him a rather hard punch to the back of the head, but he had expected it. As they entered the main clearing of training ground seven, they saw Naruto doing something they would never have associated with Naruto: reading. "'Super-intense training regimen,' huh?"

"He's probably just inventing another technique." The reply came from everyone around her at the same time.

"Another...?"

"Yes, another, but I probably shouldn't tell you guys about the first two. That's really up to Naruto…" The group walked up to Naruto, everyone wondering exactly what it was that he was reading. As Naruto hadn't noticed them, and Sakura was taking a remarkably long time to point out their presence to him, Ino took a peek at the title of the scroll. She face-faulted.

"'Basics of Chakra Molding?' What kind of idiot are you! They gave us this scroll in our first year at the academy!"

Naruto looked up to see his ten visitors. He also saw that most of them seemed to agree with what Ino had said; even Lee, who could never have managed any of the exercises on the scroll anyway. "I was just checking to see if it had anything that would help me with my new technique. It's going to--"

"Ino-pig! Don't you have any manners at all! You don't just walk up to someone you're trying to help and call them an idiot!"

"I can't help it if he's an idiot, Forehead-girl! Being dead-last is one thing, but having to re-read academy material? How he ever beat Kiba and Neiji is a mystery to me…"

"If you're quite done, we _are_ here for a reason." Neiji didn't want to have to deal with a fight between two loud girls, so he decided to save some time. "Could we please get back to it?"

Sakura's interest instantly returned to the still-seated Naruto. "Oh, right. Naruto, we're here to take you to lunch!"

"Why?" Naruto really couldn't think of any reason that the group would want to take him to lunch. It seemed extremely suspicious to him that they would suddenly take an interest in him, not to mention that he had promised to meet Mabui at Ichiraku's.

"Because, Naruto, you've been working too hard." _Everyone_, including Shino, was surprised that Shino had been the one to voice that. Somehow, despite the shocked faces, he forced himself to finish his thought. "Sakura, Lee, Neiji, Kiba, and Ino have expressed worry that you are becoming too obsessive, and the rest of the group seems to share the sentiment."

"He's right, Naruto. You're being too troublesome…" Shikamaru didn't really want to become a part of the conversation, but he knew it was inevitable. Reasoning that it was less troublesome to involve himself than to be prodded by Ino, he forced himself to say something that he knew he would regret. "Just come eat lunch with us… After lunch I might even let you play a game of shougi with me." Shougi with Naruto had really been Ino's idea, which was the only reason that Shikamaru knew he couldn't get out of it. He actually liked Naruto as a friend, but he couldn't imagine the blond being any good at the game.

"What's shougi?"

"You don't know how to play shougi?" Receiving a death glare from Ino, he decided to take the least troublesome path. "I could teach you, I guess… It's just a board game, in answer to your question."

"I don't have time for games! What about my training!"

"Naruto, we're trying to get you _away_ from your training for a day." Tenten really didn't think that Naruto would leave the village, but she had a much more powerful worry. "You don't want to end up like Lee and Gai-sensei, do you?" She decided to ignore Lee's indignant look, as his response was cut off by Naruto's.

"You think I'm getting as strong as Super-brows? Yatta!" As Naruto started jumping up and down, screaming "yatta!" over and over, everyone sweat-dropped.

"That's… not what I meant, Naruto." Naruto instantly stopped his celebration, looking extremely disappointed.

"Naruto, you can't spend all of your time training!" Ino was getting seriously tired of the conversation. "Just come get lunch with us and we'll go from there, okay?"

"But I was going to meet Mabui-chan…"

"Who?" Looking around, Ino could tell that no one in the group (with the possible exception of Sakura) had ever met anyone named Mabui.

"Mabui-chan!"

"Well that clears things up!"

"N-Naruto-kun…" Naruto finally noticed that Hinata was also in the clearing, hiding behind everyone else, with a face as red as a ripe tomato. "Why don't we j-just go with you to meet M-Mabui-san?" Naruto tried to think of some valid reason that they wouldn't be able to come, but he couldn't.

"Okay… But you guys had better be nice to Mabui-chan!" Seeing them all nod in agreement, he picked up his scrolls and began to exit the training grounds.

"Naruto, would you hurry up?"

"Ino-pig, I told you to stop being so rude! If you act like that around--"

"Naruto-kun? Are you alright?" Lee, having experience with debilitating injuries himself, was genuinely concerned. "You didn't tear muscles, did you?"

"Eh? Oh, the wei—that's nothing, don't worry about it." He put on a big grin, hoping that it would rid them of suspicion.

"But it looks like you're having trouble walking…"

"It's just part of my training!" Naruto really wasn't sure if he was supposed to keep the secret from Lee, too, but if Lee didn't know, Naruto wasn't going to tell him.

* * *

"Hi Naruto-kun! Who're all of your friends?" Mabui looked around at the group, a little surprised that Naruto had brought company. What really seemed odd to her was that all of the boys appeared to be drooling, except for the boy with no pupils who had immediately shut his eyes upon seeing her.

He decided to go from left to right. "This is Hyuuga Neiji, Tenten, Rock Lee, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Sakura-chan, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, and… er… it starts with a 'Y' I think…"

Ino, looking angrier than anyone could ever remember seeing her, took her introduction upon herself. "I'm Yamanaka Ino." She forced a smile as she said it, which resulted in her looking like a sleepy serial killer.

"Yeah, that was it!" He gestured to Mabui, "this is Mabui-chan. I don't know why, but they insisted on coming, so--"

"Maybe they're just realizing what a cool person you are, Naruto-kun!" At everyone's surprised looks, she almost took it back. The quickest to recover was, of course, Shikamaru, who decided to ask another question.

"How old are you?" He was immediately punched in the back of the head by Ino, Sakura, and Tenten all at the same time, causing him to fall over on the ground. He decided that that wasn't nearly as scary as their shouting in unison.

"You idiot! Don't ask a woman her age!"

"No, it's okay, I really don't mind." Mabui, who had never understood that rule anyway, didn't mind divulging her age. "I'm twenty years old. Why do you ask, Shikamaru-kun?"

Shikamaru stood back up and dusted himself off. "I've just never heard of anyone more than four years older than Naruto that didn't dislike him when they first met him…" Mabui's face got a look of deepest loathing for a moment, but quickly changed back to her normal, cheery expression.

"That's because they're idiots, and they're missing out! Anyways, it's nice to meet all of you! If you're friends of Naruto-kun, I'm sure you're all great people. Would you all care to sit down?" There was some generally affirmative mumbling, and everyone either sat down or leaned on the counter. "So how's that new technique coming Naruto?"

"Not as well as I was hoping, but--"

"Naruto, you've _got_ to be kidding!" No matter how hard Ino tried, she couldn't imagine Naruto having less of a life. "You talk about training on your lunch break? Do you ever take an _actual _break?"

"Why would I want to waste time? Besides, Mabui-chan only ever seems to want to talk about my training anyway…"

"And who's fault is that? She probably doesn't feel comfortable talking about anything else because you're so obsessed, and--"

"That's not true, I really do like talking about his training!" Everyone stared at Mabui for a while, thinking that she was one of the weirdest people they had ever met, but no one said anything. "So, what were you saying about your technique?"

"Well, it's not going quite as well as I hoped it would, but I at least know what some of the problems are. The hardest part will probably be getting my chakra to continue to apply the same amount of centripetal force constantly after it leaves my hand, but I also have to consider--"

"Whoa, wait a minute! Did I just hear _Naruto_ talking about centripetal force?" Remembering all of the time that she had spent with Naruto, Sakura felt fairly confident saying that his intellectual capacity was not one of his strong points. "Since when does Naruto know _anything_ about physics?"

"Since Mabui-chan explained it all to me and found books and scrolls for me to read, Sakura-chan! Anyway, Mabui-chan, I also have to consider--"

"Naruto, you're not supposed to do any more training today, remember?" Ino was making an honest effort to be polite, if for no other reason than not having a fight with Sakura in front of their new acquaintance.

"I'm not gonna fall behind on my training just because you guys are being weird! If I skimp on my training, I'll never be able to bring Sasuke back!"

"Naruto-kun? Don't you think you could indulge your friends for one day?"

"Mabui-chan! Not you too!"

"I don't really think you're going too far with your training, but your friends are worried about you… The least you could do is give them less reason to worry, even if you have to sacrifice a half-day of training."

"Well… Alright, I guess…"

Finally, Ichiraku came to get the group's orders. Ino, Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten all ordered one bowl of miso ramen, not wanting to gain any weight. Neiji got two bowls of pork ramen, Lee three bowls of pork (just to out-do Neiji), Kiba and Shino both ordered two bowls of miso, Shikamaru got one bowl of pork, and Chouji got two of each kind on the menu. When it finally came to Naruto, he ordered five pork, five teriyaki chicken, and ten miso. Naruto's order didn't surprise his friends nearly as much as Mabui's order, which consisted of ten pork, five teriyaki chicken, and five miso. In other words, Mabui was planning on eating as much ramen as _Naruto_.

Probably the weirdest part of the whole experience was that Mabui finished her ramen before Naruto did. She waited until he finished (the whole five seconds), and then headed back to the library to continue her shift. Seeing that his friends had yet to finish their ramen (although how it was possible to eat that slowly escaped him), he tried to sneak away to the training grounds, but they saw him and made him sit back down.

"Naruto, we already told you we aren't going to let you train anymore today! Just relax and be glad for the time off!"

"Okay, but only because Mabui-chan thought it would be a good idea…"

"Yatta!" Ino was punching the air for some reason, but no one found it odd. "I guess that means you'll spend the rest of the afternoon playing shougi with Shikamaru!" Shikamaru shuddered, but she didn't notice.

"Actually, I have a question to ask you guys…"

"What is it Naruto?"

"How long do I have to get ready for the next chuunin exam?" At this, everyone exchanged dark looks. Sakura was the only one who knew _why_, but they all knew that his training was being hampered, and that the reason would probably prevent him from entering the exams.

"There are ten weeks left, but I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you…"

"I only have ten weeks? But I've only finished learning three techniques! I'm gonna have to get more serious about my training…"

"MORE serious! Are you crazy!"

"Forehead, you don't have to scream."

"Yes I do! He's already doubled his speed and strength and invented one B-rank and one S-rank ninjutsu! If he gets any more serious, he's going to kill himself!" Those in the group that knew the ranking system (Neiji, Hinata, and Tenten) went wide-eyed, while Naruto just adopted a suspicious glare.

"How do you know about my techniques?"

"Naruto, please. I'm the Hokage's apprentice, and you're my teammate. It would be ridiculous to think that I don't hear all about what you're up to."

"You mean to tell me," Tenten took a deep breath, "that _Naruto_, the one sitting at the counter right over there, invented an S-rank ninjutsu?" Sakura nodded. "You do know what S-rank means, right?" Sakura nodded again. "What—How—Who told you it was S-rank?"

"Tsunade-shishou." As if merely to defy the laws of physics, Neiji's, Tenten's, and Hinata's eyes went even wider. "She didn't really tell me what it does, though."

Kiba couldn't take being left out of the loop anymore. "What's an S-rank ninjutsu? Would you people speak plain Japanese please?"

"Oh, you don't know about the ninjutsu rankings? S-rank means—damn it Naruto! Stop trying to sneak off!" Naruto sat back down, mumbling something about "only a little." "S-rank means that it's too difficult for most kage to learn, and it requires an ungodly amount of chakra, to the point where most people wouldn't be able to use it effectively in an actual fight." All of the eyes that hadn't widened quickly corrected themselves. "S-rank techniques are usually never taught, because not many people have the skill or the power to use them."

"_Naruto_ created one?" He turned to Naruto, a look of disbelief obvious on his face. "I'll believe it when I see it."

Naruto's face lit up in a grin. "You'll see it at the chuunin exams, Dog-boy! Unless you're afraid to come!"

"Uh, Naruto? About the chuunin exam…" Sakura hated being the bearer of bad news, but she was probably the only one who could tell him. "I wouldn't get my hopes up, if I were you."

"What do you mean, Sakura-chan? I was in the finals last time, I'm sure that--"

"Things have… changed a little. Since Jiraiya has been threatening all of the jounin not to train you, I doubt that Kakashi-sensei will have the courage to submit your name. Even if he does, we still need another person, so--"

"Ero-sennin is the reason I couldn't get a teacher? Why wouldn't anyone tell me!" Naruto stood up and started shouting about pervert cheaters, and it took his friends ten minutes to calm him down. When he finally _did_ calm down, Sakura took the opportunity to switch the subject.

A few minutes later, they were entering Shikamaru's house. Unfortunately, his mother was home, and she spotted Naruto. "Shikamaru, what is that _thing_ doing in our house!"

He looked around for a minute. "What thing?" She pointed at Naruto, causing everyone to raise an eyebrow. "Naruto?"

"Yes! I told you a long time ago not to associate with '_him_.' Why is 'he' in our house!" Her use of airquotes was, quite possibly, the most childish thing he had ever seen from her.

"I was about to teach him to play shougi…" Shikamaru had always thought his mother's orders to be troublesome and pointless, and had completely ignored her when she told him not to speak, play, or fight with Naruto. As far as he had been concerned, Naruto was just another guy, which made the way his mother was referring to Naruto all the more perturbing.

"You… you were going to play games with 'him?'" She couldn't quite find the words to describe how wrong it was without mentioning Kyuubi, but she knew that she needed to try. Unfortunately, for her at least, she wasn't good with words. "Get that thing out of my house! It's a terrible influence, and I don't want you speaking to it ever again!"

"Did I just hear what I thought I heard?" Shikato walked into the room looking very angry, a side of him that Shikamaru couldn't remember ever having seen.

"Oh! Shikato, I… didn't know you were home!" Shikamaru knew for a _fact_ that he had never seen his father stand up to his mother, nor had he ever seen his mother back down from anything. For the life of him, though, he couldn't figure out why they were acting so strangely.

"Shikamaru, take your friends upstairs. Your mother and I need to have a talk." Rather than question the turn of events, Shikamaru took the least troublesome path.

Before anyone knew it, they were all crowded into Shikamaru's room, watching him explain shougi to Naruto. After three explanations and a demonstration, Naruto thought he had a good understanding of how to play, so they began. Three moves later, it was obvious to Shikamaru that Naruto had no idea what he was doing. "Naruto, you can't move that there, it's suicidal."

"I have a plan, just let me try it." Shikamaru decided to let Naruto try whatever his plan was, as he knew the game wouldn't be a challenge even if Naruto played normally. Or at least, he thought he knew. By the fifteenth move, everyone was watching the game with rapt attention, even though most had only stayed because they feared Ino's wrath.

No one could figure out exactly what Naruto's strategy was, or if there were multiple strategies, or if he even had a strategy, but he was playing amazingly well. While Shikamaru's turns averaged taking about ninety seconds, Naruto's turns averaged about three.

Off to the side, the wagering pool was closed after the twentieth turn. Shikamaru was in his thinking pose, realizing that he was having the hardest game of his life. How Naruto could possibly be that good in his first game, the super-genius had no idea, but he was starting to question Naruto's status as a dead-last. Not only were Naruto's moves quick, they were completely unpredictable and disturbingly well thought-out. Every time that Shikamaru tried a new strategy, it was like Naruto had been waiting for him to try that strategy from the start.

When the end of the match came, everyone was surprised except for Naruto, who was complaining that Shikamaru had _obviously_ let him win. Hinata collected all of the money from the pool, and even she hadn't actually expected Naruto to win. Naruto tried to sneak out to go train while they weren't paying attention, but was caught by Ino. The group forced him to wait while Chouji went to get Asuma, something that Naruto really wasn't looking forward to.

When Shikamaru explained to Asuma that he had lost a game of shougi to Naruto, the cigarette actually fell from the man's mouth. He just stood there, mouth agape, until Ino punched him on the arm. Finally Asuma waved it off, saying that it was impossible for _anyone_ to beat Shikamaru, let alone Naruto. In honor of Asuma's statement, they forced Naruto to have a rematch with Shikamaru. Although he considered losing on purpose just to get out of the whole thing, Naruto ended up playing seriously, complaining that Shikamaru was letting him win periodically throughout the match. When Naruto won again Asuma refused to believe it, claiming that it had been staged.

Naruto wasn't particularly eager to prove anything to Asuma, as he had already tired of the game, but he still ended up playing a third round. At the very least, he was glad that the third game finished much more quickly than the two before it, Asuma being totally crushed.

Finally they allowed Naruto to leave, but only after he promised that he would not only refrain from training for the rest of the day, he would also meet them at the same time the next Saturday. Not many of them liked the idea, but Ino and Sakura were disturbingly persuasive. An extremely defeated Naruto headed home to at least read some more from the scrolls he had borrowed.

* * *

"That was… interesting. What did you think, Asuma-sensei?"

"I have absolutely no idea, Ino."

"I don't get it! When the hell did that idiot become so smart?"

"Well, now that I think about it…" Sakura suddenly remembered all of the plans that she had seen Naruto enact mid-battle. "Our first real fight was with an S-rank missing-nin from the hidden mist named Zabuza. When Zabuza captured Kakashi-sensei, Naruto came up with and executed a plan to get Kakashi-sensei free." Asuma's eyes widened a little bit at the mention of Zabuza.

"Kakashi never mentioned that he had help from his team…"

"Then there was the fight with those gennin from hidden rain, where he came up with a plan to trick them into canceling their genjutsu prematurely. Oh, he also came up with a pretty good strategy when he fought you, Kiba."

"What? He didn't have a strategy!"

"Oh, so you punched out your dog for the hell of it?" Kiba glared at her, but Sakura continued to think. "During his fight with you, Neiji, he tricked you into letting your guard down after you attacked his bunshin. He also tricked you at the end of the fight. I wasn't conscious when he defeated Gaara, but--"

"_Naruto_ defeated Gaara? When the hell was that?"

"During the Sand/Sound invasion. I only know about it because I thanked Sasuke for saving me, and he said it was Naruto that beat Gaara. Like I said though, I was unconscious, so I have no idea how he did it. After that, when we had to fight the rain gennin again on a mission, he had his kage bunshin rotate the water with chakra to make a little vortex… The only other fight that I was around for was when Naruto fought Sasuke on the roof of the hospital… Other than using a little swirling wind ball to keep Sasuke's fire ball from killing him, I don't remember Naruto using any strategy…"

"So we've got six, maybe seven incidents where he used incredible strategies, and the rest of his life he was a complete idiot." Shikamaru, trying to make sense out of the number one ninja in surprising people, was developing a terrible headache.

"Well, regardless of his abilities, his training obsession seems a bit unhealthy."

"Asuma-sensei, how could you ever imply that training with the burning passion of youth is unhealthy? If anything is unhealthy, it's those cigarettes you smoke all of the time!"

"Hey, they're not that bad… well, yes they are, but that's not the point."

"No, it's not. The point is that Sasuke already left me because he was obsessed with power, and now Naruto's even worse about it!"

"Sakura, I doubt that Naruto would leave the village." Tenten was _not_ prepared to deal with Sakura crying. "Not only would it kill his dream of becoming Hokage, it would defeat the purpose of getting the power. Naruto can't bring Sasuke back if Naruto is also a nuke-nin…"

Sakura wiped the tears out of her eyes. "I guess you're right… Thanks, Tenten."

"Still… He does seem to have a power obsession, and it probably isn't healthy to train quite as much as he seems to… Do we know how many hours per day he trains?"

"Kakashi said eighteen minus meal breaks."

"Eighteen! Gai-sensei and I only train sixteen hours per day, and that's between missions! How can his body tolerate that…?" He got a hopeful look on his face, as though he was considering adding two hours to his training day, which Sakura took as her cue to crush that idea completely.

"Tsunade-shishou says that his body _shouldn't_ be able to tolerate it. Her guess is that his body is actually being heavily damaged while he trains, but then he heals himself up and keeps going."

"But… N-Naruto-kun isn't a medic-nin... H-how can he h-heal his own wounds?"

"Tsunade-shishou isn't entirely sure about that, either. She says it _might_ be the result of something that she can't tell me about, or it might just be a byproduct of his own enormous chakra. Whatever the reason, he can apparently heal just about anything overnight, and channeling his chakra to the damaged area seems to speed the healing up."

"So… Gai-sensei and I--"

"Would probably end up killing yourselves if you tried to keep up with Naruto." Lee looked crushed, which Sakura took as assurance that he wouldn't try it. "Anyway, we need to think of a way to get him to slow down a little bit."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why?' It's not healthy to train your body to the point where it falls apart! Besides, his training will probably be more effective if he slows down enough that he doesn't have to keep healing himself--"

"But Sakura-san, the process of getting stronger is just the muscles breaking down and rebuilding, so the same principle--"

"Shut up Lee! Forehead's right, we can't just let him keep up something so dangerous!"

"Let's think about this logically, shall we?" Shikamaru was getting a little tired of the pointless bickering. "If Naruto continues to train the way he has been training, what are the benefits? His healing ability will probably become more efficient from practice, his chakra capacity will increase more quickly from the extra strain, and he'll get the benefits of the actual training time. Now for the negatives… The only one we've listed so far is that, if it _weren't_ Naruto, it would be a potentially lethal process. I guess we could also add that his mental state will become less stable as he has less human contact, but from the sound of things that Mabui person is maintaining daily contact with him… This whole thing is too troublesome. We should just leave him alone…"

"We can't do that! I'm sure there's something we're missing that makes it obvious that he should slow down…"

"How about we wait until it's not missing anymore?"

"No Shikamaru, I have a bad feeling about all of this too. You should all try to get him to let up at least a _little_ bit. Enough that he isn't destroying and rebuilding his body on a regular basis…"

"Asuma, so troublesome…"

* * *

"Remind me why I'm here again?"

"Because, Kiba, Naruto needs the support of _all_ of his friends."

"But I don't even agree with what you're trying to do, Sakura… If he can handle the training and he's not going to run away from Konoha, he should just keep doing whatever works."

Sighing, Sakura realized that she had no choice but to tell them. "Alright guys, listen up. The real reason that we all need to do this is that Tsunade-shishou has taken ANBU and Kakashi-sensei off of watching Naruto. I'm supposed to report his progress in his training to her every week, and the easiest way for me to find out how he's doing is for us to all meet like this every week." She decided not to tell them that it was only because of her own obsession with Naruto's training that Tsunade had agreed to her idea. Of course, there was no real need to keep ANBU on him anyway, as long as he _thought_ they were on him.

"Wait, you mean we're spies now?"

"Sort of…"

"Does that mean that we don't have to try to convince him not to--"

"NO! For crying out loud, stop asking!"

As they walked up to the edge of the clearing, they saw Naruto form a kage bunshin. Not wanting to interrupt whatever he was doing, they just watched. Naruto was clearly audible, so the listened as well.

"Ok, so if we go fifty feet from the target," Naruto and his bunshin walked backward a few feet, "the power shouldn't dilute at all." The bunshin began swirling chakra in Naruto's hand until he had a normal rasengan, and then it dispelled in a cloud of smoke. Naruto pointed his hand at the tree, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. Opening his eyes, Naruto screamed "**Rasengan Dangan (Spiral Blast Bullet)!**" The others just watched in awe as the rasengan shot from his hand and was almost instantly embedded in the tree he had been targeting, the trunk of which was quickly ripped to shreds before a small explosion of power came out the opposite side of the tree.

While Naruto was celebrating the success of his newest technique, his friends were in shock. The technique he had just used, rasengan dangan, was by far the most powerful ranged attack any of them had ever seen. Every piece of tree trunk that had come into contact with the rasengan was completely disintegrated, and the attack had moved through the air so quickly that, even with the first five gates open, Lee knew it would be a difficult attack to dodge.

By the time they had all regained their senses, they were surprised to see that Naruto again had a look of concentration on his face. Apparently he wasn't quite done. Forming a kage bunshin, Naruto picked another tree that had plenty of neighbors. "We can probably back up to about seventy-five feet. The effect is supposed to last for five-hundred, so we'd might as well make sure it won't crap out on us…"

Slightly disappointed that Naruto was just adding distance to his attack, his friends prepared to come out and greet him, only to see his bunshin act completely different than the first time. Wanting to see exactly what was going to happen, Sakura held out her hands to stop everyone from entering the training ground. Naruto and his bunshin formed the oodama rasengan and aimed it at the target.

While they were still trying to figure out what the difference was between this rasengan and the one before, other than size, Naruto decided he was ready to try his technique. "**Oodama Dangan (Great Sphere Bullet)!**" Although it was covering a larger distance, the oodama rasengan seemed to hit its target much more quickly. Naruto's friends probably would have been impressed by that, if it hadn't been for the sheer destructive power the technique proved capable of upon hitting the tree. Even Naruto was somewhat surprised by just how much the dangan effect increased the power of his technique. The sphere of destruction created by this technique was at least twice as large as that of its predecessor, and it spread out in _all_ directions, while the other had only spread out in the direction of the thrust.

Watching Naruto's attack disintegrate everything within twenty-five feet of the point of impact, while uprooting a half dozen trees on the edge of that area just to send them flying into other trees, breaking in half on impact, could only be described with one word. _Scary_. Not horror movie scary, or axe murderer scary, but the sort of indescribable scary that they had once attributed to Gaara. As far as any of them could tell, Naruto had just created an attack that would kill virtually anyone, regardless of their defenses, with an _indirect hit_. The gennin (and Shikamaru) cautiously made their way into the training ground, not quite sure how to act around their friend at the moment, while said friend danced around in celebration.

When Naruto spotted the gathering at the edge of the clearing, he stopped mid cheer. "Oh, is that today?"

"Naruto, I demand that you teach me that technique!"

"Dream on Dog-boy! You couldn't do that technique even if I taught you how!"

"Can you guys _not_ have a fight right now?" Everyone looked over at Ino. "As fun as it would be to watch Naruto kick your ass Kiba, I'm hungry."

"He wouldn't kick my ass!"

"I'm sorry, did you not see the technique he used just a moment ago? I'm pretty sure that that technique could take down _Tsunade-sama_ in one shot."

Naruto looked a little flustered. "Heh, I don't know about that… If she used that seal on her forehead, she'd kick my ass with or without that technique."

"Seal on her… that little dot is a seal? I always thought it was some kind of religious thing…"

"Oookay… Can we just go eat now? I feel like I'm gonna die if I don't get some ramen soon." Medic-nin instincts taking over, Sakura was on Naruto with a diagnostic jutsu before he realized she had moved. "Um, Sakura-chan?"

"You're okay, but you really do need nourishment…" Finally noticing the stares directed at her, she added, "…so, uh, we should go right away!" By the time Naruto opened his mouth to ask a question, Sakura was in a sprint towards Ichiraku's. Much to Naruto's chagrin, everyone else followed suit, leaving him and his ridiculous weights far behind.

When Naruto fell far enough behind everyone else to arouse suspicion, he decided to show off the results of his training. Forming the rabbit and sheep seals, Naruto yelled "**Naruto Senkou no Jutsu!**" Suffice it to say that Lee, who had been winning the race, was more than a little surprised when Naruto suddenly pulled into the lead.

By the time he got to Ichiraku's Naruto was completely worn out, so he ordered twice as much as usual. When Ino, who lost the race, arrived at the scene, Naruto had finished his meal. As the others' orders arrived, Lee felt a nagging urge to ask a question.

"Naruto-kun, your speed back there was incredible! How did you gain so much speed in such a short amount of time?"

"Actually, I can go a lot faster than that." /_If I take the damned weights off…_/ He adopted his sheepish grin. "It's just hard work!"

Lee struck a nice guy pose, but Neiji just shook his head. "Impossible. You would have to have worked harder than Lee to improve your speed that much in that short a time, but you were spending large portions of your time on ninjutsu as well."

Naruto's grin just got bigger. Sakura took the opportunity to tell Naruto that he was going to have to meet them every Saturday, which resulted in his a length, childish argument. With Ino and Sakura working together, however, Naruto lost horribly. After a while, Sakura realized that something was off.

"Naruto, where's Mabui-san?"

"Eh? Oh, I asked Mabui-chan not to come today, since you guys are going to be--"

"What! You jerk! I was looking forward to getting to know her!" Ino elbowed Sakura in the ribs, mouthed "remember the plan," and went back to her ramen. Sakura, still angry that Naruto didn't think them good enough to mingle with Mabui, went back to her ramen as well.

"So, Naruto, what was that attack?" Ino really hoped that question didn't sound too stupid, as the name pretty much gave away what the attack was, but Naruto didn't seem to care.

"What, dangan?" Seeing everyone nodding, he continued. "Just a projectile version of rasengan and oodama rasengan."

"And what are those?"

"I thought you guys didn't want me to think about my training…?"

"We're curious, that's all. So, what's a rasengan?"

Naruto eyed her suspiciously for a few moments, but seemed to decide that she was serious. "Rasengan is an A-rank ninjutsu that Ero-sennin spent about a month teaching to me when we were looking for baa-chan. Oodama--"

"Tsunade-shishou told me it only took you about a week…"

"Oh, she told you about the bet?" He pulled out the necklace and held it up, grinning. "The week was just for the last step. I spent three weeks on the first step and a few days on the second step, and the third step took me about a week."

"So what's all this 'oodama' crap?" Ino and Sakura had decided beforehand to alternate speaking, hoping that it would disorient him and cause him to live more in the moment.

"Oodama rasengan is my improvement on the rasengan!" His grin grew wider with each passing moment. "It's way more powerful than Yondaime's stupid thing!"

"How long did it take you to make it Naruto?"

"About a week…"

Naruto had to hold his hands over his ears to block out the collective voice, as everyone said at the same time: "a WEEK!"

"Yeah, I know, I didn't think that it would take nearly that long, but--"

"Naruto, Tsunade-shishou said that your oodama rasengan is an S-rank jutsu! It would have taken any normal person years!"

"Well, I don't have years, so I did it in a week." Everyone just stared at him like he belonged in a lunatic asylum.

"Are you saying, Naruto, that you were able to invent the technique more quickly than anyone else would be able to just because you felt you needed to?"

"Yeah…" He started to look at Ino like _she_ might have been crazy. "If I'm gonna save Sasuke, I need as many good techniques as I can make in the next three years. I don't have time to waste, so I just keep reminding myself of why I need to have the technique, and it comes easier." He let out a sheepish laugh. "Just like everything else…"

"Naruto…" Sakura wasn't exactly sure what to say. The plan hadn't accounted for the possibility that he considered the drive to save Sasuke to be the source of his strength. "I told you, we'll save Sasuke together, you don't have to do all of the work! Don't you think you could tone down your training just a little?"

"I already did."

"What? When!"

"When I agreed to take off Saturday afternoons and nights." Everyone face-faulted.

"I meant other than--"

"Forehead-girl, let it go! I want to hear more about his dangan thing!" They continued on through lunch talking about Naruto's accomplishments and strengths, but the plan didn't seem to be working. If anything, Naruto seemed to get more determined to train harder, something that even Lee didn't really want. When Naruto explained some of the details and power of rasengan and dangan every eye went wide, but other than that it was a total waste of time.

After lunch was over, Shikamaru (really Ino) had another idea for Naruto: go. Naruto had never played go before, but he turned out to be a natural at that too. Using unpredictable strategies that Shikamaru had never seen before, Naruto easily won several games. The worst part of losing was that, although he didn't know how, Naruto seemed to have some intuitive knowledge of exactly what he was planning, and each of Naruto's strategies could easily be adapted into another on a moment's notice.

Finally, when Naruto went home, another argument about how to convince Naruto to relax more occurred. In the end, Shikamaru suggested they not bother to plan anything, since Naruto seemed to have a sense for when people were planning something anyway. No one listened.

* * *

"Tsunade-shishou?"

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork. "Ah, good morning Sakura! How did everything go yesterday?"

"Uh… okay, I guess."

Seeing the distressed look on Sakura's face, Tsunade knew something big had happened. "What's wrong Sakura?"

"Uh… Tsunade-shishou, I was wondering… could I ask you a hypothetical question?"

"Alright, but you still have to give your report." Sakura adopted a sheepish grin and scratched the back of her head in a very Naruto-like way.

"Well, I was just—that is to say… if the rasengan weren't limited to close combat, if it were a projectile, what rank do you think it would it be?" Tsunade's eyes widened as she suddenly stared off into space. Sakura got the impression that she was slightly frightened by the mere mention of the possibility. Seeing her mentor stare silently into space for thirty seconds, Sakura was about to snap Tsunade out of her trance when the blond finally answered.

"…S-rank, easily. If there were another rank above that, a projectile rasengan would definitely be difficult enough to earn it."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears; she had thought it would be A-rank, like the normal rasengan, and that even that would have been impressive. /_He created two S-rank techniques in a month! And he's a gennin? How the _hell_ can this be Naruto?_/

"Sakura, I need you to be honest with me." The pink-haired gennin looked up to see Tsunade wearing a very serious face. "Is Naruto planning on creating such a technique?" When Sakura stayed silent, she continued. "I need you to tell me Sakura. Also, I would advise you to tell him not to bother, if he is planning on it. It's impossible to--"

"Tsunade-shishou… Naruto can already do it."

"What!" Tsunade was considering the difficulty of getting the rasengan to maintain its form and power after ceasing contact with the hand when a horrible thought struck her. She forced her voice to be calm. "Sakura, did you see the technique?"

"Yes Tsunade-shishou, we all saw it."

"Was he able to use it in conjunction with the other improvement he made to the rasengan?"

"Yes." After a long silence, she added, "it's ridiculously powerful, Tsunade-shishou…"

"I know, Sakura, Kakashi already told me about the 'oodama rasengan' that Naruto created."

"I… I think I'm ready to give my report now." At Tsunade's nod, Sakura recounted the previous day's events. Tsunade was completely awe-struck by everything about Naruto's new technique: the speed, the power, the apparent complexity, and even the speed with which he had created it. She briefly considered creating a new jutsu rank just for Naruto, as this was less than likely to be the most amazing technique that he would ever produce. N-rank seemed to have a nice ring to it, in her mind at least. Finally, as Sakura was finishing her report, Tsunade snapped back to reality.

"Then, finally, Naruto played go for the first time. After beating Shikamaru a few times, he--"

"Excuse me Sakura, but I think I misheard you a second ago. I could have sworn you said that _Naruto_ bested _Shikamaru_ at go."

"I did, and he did."

"But that's impossible! I can understand if Naruto's a genius with techniques, but he's an idiot when it comes to everything else! For him to beat _Shikamaru_ should be… impossible!"

"He also beat Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei at shougi last week." There were a few moments of shocked silence before Tsunade found herself smirking. Remembering just who she was talking about, it really didn't seem that farfetched.

"So he's a strategist now? He really is an interesting guy…"

* * *

"Yo."

"You're late again, eternal rival Kakashi! And it was _your_ idea to meet here!"

As interesting as watching Gai fume was, Kakashi really had something important to talk about. "Gai, I have a… request."

"What is it Kakashi? Do you wish to make our challenges more frequent? Would you like to admit that I have overcome you with the power of--"

"I'll save us both some time and say no to everything you're about to say. I want you to give Naruto one-on-one training, like what you give Lee."

"No."

"What, no longwinded speech?"

"No. I've risked enough just by giving him my old leg-weights, I can't afford to help him any more than that."

"Gai, you don't understand! Naruto, he…" Kakashi realized that his voice had been slightly passionate, and quickly composed himself. "Naruto has, in the last eight weeks, surpassed me in ninjutsu. If he can get some good taijutsu training now, he--"

"Kakashi, while I normally tolerate your 'hip' attitude, I'm not about to sit here and pretend to believe a lie like that. We both know that you are Konoha's number one ninjutsu specialist. There's simply no way for him to have learned more techniques than you in--"

Resisting the urge to pretend not to be listening, Kakashi interrupted. "I'm not saying that he knows _more_ techniques than me, I'm saying that he knows _better_ techniques." At Gai's questioning look, Kakashi continued. "Not only does Naruto have more chakra than I do, he's invented some extremely powerful ninjutsu that I don't know."

"Why don't you just _copy_ them?" Kakashi noticed that Gai's question reeked of sarcasm, something very uncharacteristic of Gai, but he decided not to worry about it.

"I can't."

"What do you mean by that?" Gai assumed, of course, that Kakashi was speaking of the moral difficulties that any normal person would experience when trying to steal techniques from their student, but he wanted to hear it from Kakashi.

"My sharingan can't copy either of his original techniques." Gai nearly sweat-dropped, but controlled himself. It took him a few moments to realize the implications of Kakashi's statement, but when he did he snapped to attention. With Gai finally being quiet, Kakashi managed to explain Naruto's progress to Gai. Beginning with Naruto senkou no jutsu, and moving through oodama rasengan and bakuretsu kage bunshin no jutsu.

"Kakashi, even if he is good with ninjutsu," Kakashi gave him a glare, "alright, _very_ good with ninjutsu, that doesn't mean that he'll be good with taijutsu. You should have him stick to his strengths, since he has them."

"About that, Gai… You know those ridiculously heavy weights that you gave him?" Kakashi proceeded to explain to Gai all of Naruto's physical training, both before and after receiving the weights. By the time he was done, Gai couldn't suppress his surprise. "So you see, Gai, Naruto definitely has enough drive to become good in taijutsu. It will also compliment his style well, with his speed-enhancing technique and the fact that he uses mostly taijutsu when he fights." Gai had a thoughtful look on his face during the silence that followed, but a frown when he ended it.

"I'll admit, Kakashi, that I would normally jump at the chance to train someone like Naruto. With such a brightly burning youthful spirit, Naruto really might become Hokage! Still, I can't. Have you tried appealing to Jiraiya?"

"You know as well as I do that he's too stubborn for that." He sighed, but Gai got a sudden gleam in his eye.

"Kakashi, if _you_ cannot convince him, then _we_ will convince him!"

"Huh?" Kakashi again resisted the urge to add "did you say something?"

"I'll go with you! Together we _will_ convince Jiraiya to allow Naruto's youthful passion to be rewarded!" He struck a nice-guy pose, confident that Kakashi would think it the best possible course of action.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Gai almost face-faulted. "Not only would that not work, it would expose the help you've been giving Naruto to Jiraiya. It would also mean that Jiraiya would watch the two of us more closely, and he would discover my help as well. We're not going to have his blessing either way, so my plan of doing it behind his back is better."

Gai considered what Kakashi had said, and he had to admit that it made sense. Funny thing about Gai, he never cared about making sense. "Alright Kakashi, I will agree to train Naruto on one condition."

Kakashi forced himself not to his hopes up, because he had an idea of what the condition was. "Is the condition that we confront Jiraiya first?"

"H-how did you know?"

"You're seriously asking that? With the way this conversation has been going?" At the look on Gai's face, Kakashi nearly sweat-dropped. "Is there anything else I could possibly do--"

"No."

Kakashi's inner struggle raged on as he considered which was more important: his life or Naruto's training. Even if Jiraiya was unlikely to _kill_ them, he was likely to injure them enough that they would be ineffective teachers for a few months. /_Knowing Jiraiya, he would even think to have Naruto's weights taken away, if anyone could carry them… Still, I can't just leave Naruto's potential untapped. Even if I teach him taijutsu, he'll never be as good under me as he would be under Gai. I really haven't been a very good teacher up until now, but is it really worth facing Jiraiya?_/ Finally Kakashi reached his decision.

"Gai, I have one question to ask you before I can answer."

"What question is that, Kakashi?"

"Is it possible that a death threat could get me out of this?"

"No, it isn't."

"Alright, let's go see the perverted bastard who'll probably put us in the hospital…"

"Yoshi!"

* * *

"So you see, Jiraiya-sama, we have agreed that you must allow us to train Naruto! He is living in the explosion of youth, and--"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

Kakashi looked back and forth between the ridiculously enthusiastic-looking Gai and the extremely annoyed-looking Jiraiya. /_I knew my idea was better…_/ "Jiraiya-sama, I know that you're angry with Naruto, but--"

"I'm not angry, but I am disappointed." His eyes bored into Kakashi's, "I'm trying to save him some pain. Sasuke is about as likely to come back to Konoha as Orochimaru, and even if he does come back he won't be the friend that Naruto is looking for."

"Whether that's true or not, Naruto is free to make his own decisions, Jiraiya-sama. I understand that you have every right to refuse to train him, but you shouldn't be able to keep us from doing it."

"I never said you couldn't train him, I only said that I would break every bone in your bodies if you did."

"Don't you even want to know what his hard work has done, Jiraiya-sama?" Gai's face betrayed anger with the pervert. "If he continues at the rate he's managed so far, he very well could bring Sasuke back!"

Jiraiya couldn't help but be a little curious at a statement like that. Considering that, as far as he knew, Naruto was receiving no help, the blond boy's progress should have been fairly slow. "Alright," he let out a sigh, "I suppose you aren't going to shut up until I hear you out…"

"Yoshi! Kakashi, you know more about it than I do, why don't you tell him?" Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Alright, Jiraiya-sama. I guess I'll start with his physical training… In the course of several weeks, Naruto was able to double his running speed, and his stamina is such that it brought Akaaka Hoshi to tears."

"Akaaka Hoshi? What's so impressive about that? Naruto had more stamina than that loser when I was teaching him to summon frogs before his chuunin exam finals."

"Yes, well, I thought it was important to note because it shows that Naruto's speed increase is enough to cause a jounin in ANBU to become exhausted…" Getting no signs that Jiraiya was impressed, Kakashi sighed. "Moving on… He's managed to greatly improve his taijutsu form, and I'd say his skill in taijutsu is now about chuunin level." Jiraiya still didn't look very impressed. "As far as ninjutsu goes, he's already created two original techniques."

"Let me guess… the first technique would give me a nosebleed big enough to send me to wave country, and--"

"Actually, no. His techniques aren't perverted in nature." Jiraiya's eyebrow raised at this bit of news, but it quickly lowered again. "The first technique might still give you a nosebleed, though, if he used it and punched you… he calls it 'Naruto senkou no jutsu,' and it amplifies his strength and speed. The effect is proportional to the amount of chakra he puts into the technique, and I've seen him become as much as ten times faster when using it."

"Ten times, huh? That's not terribly impressive."

"It's more than Yondaime's shunshin, and he has enough chakra to make it even more effective."

"What's the other technique?"

"A vastly more powerful version of rasengan." Jiraiya gave no indication that he was impressed, but he couldn't help but be shocked at the claim.

"In what sense is it more powerful?"

"In the sense that it does more damage, and to a larger area. He calls it 'oodama rasengan,' because the area of damage is actually spherical. I saw one blast decimate at least fifteen trees, tear up the ground, and assault everything else in the area with gale force winds. I described the technique to Tsunade-sama, and she has decided that it is to be considered S-rank." Jiraiya, the incredible ninja that he was, managed to stop himself from reacting to the news in any visible way.

"Is that all, Kakashi?"

"No. He also learned bakuretsu kage bunshin in _two weeks_ just by reading a scroll."

"…Where did he get a scroll for an A-rank kinjutsu? Last I heard, gennin weren't allowed to be in possession of that scroll…"

Seeing no way out of it, Kakashi answered truthfully. "I decided that I couldn't allow Naruto to go without some kind of direction, so I gave it to him."

"Ah, it's good to see that someone has some sense." All eyes were instantly on Tsunade, who was standing on the opposite side of the roof. "I was beginning to think that no one would be willing to stand up to this blowhard."

"Tsunade, you know as well as I do that Naruto is deluding himself, and his delusions will never allow him to realize his dream! I'm just protecting him!"

"No Jiraiya, you're trying to change your past by living through him. That's not why I'm here, though…"

"Tsunade-sama, perhaps you can reason with Jiraiya-sama!" For no apparent reason, Gai struck his nice-guy pose. "We must not let Naruto's passionate youth go to waste!"

"Actually, Gai, that's not why I'm here either." Gai's face fell into an overly dramatic pout, but she ignored him. "I just wanted to impress on Jiraiya the quality of the student he's given up."

"I didn't give him up." Jiraiya couldn't help but think that everyone around him was an idiot, as it was clear to him that Naruto would quickly realize that Sasuke wasn't really his friend. "When he realizes the truth, and ceases his fruitless pursuits, I'll gladly take him back, and I'm sure he'll thank me for stopping him from being an idiot."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you." Tsunade's smirk was growing dangerously large. "It seems that his drive to retrieve Sasuke is going to be one of the key factors to his growth. What with his new eighteen hour daily training regimen, his friendship with the head librarian, and these new jutsu he's been creating, he'll probably surpass both of us within a year or two."

"Eighteen hours? He won't surpass us, he'll kill himself! You're actually allowing this?"

"Not only am I allowing it, I'm encouraging it. Oddly enough, he seems to be built in such a way that he actually grows stronger at a quicker pace when he puts his body under constant near-fatal stress…" Jiraiya, sporting a look of absolute terror at Tsunade's attitude towards the situation, would have responded had a particular thought not struck him at that moment.

"Did you say he knows Mabui?" /_Does this mean I'm not welcome in the library anymore?_/

"Yeah, she's even helped him with his techniques. Speaking of which, he's developed another new S-rank ninjutsu, which is the reason I came here." Tsunade just watched with a satisfied expression as Kakashi and Gai displayed obvious shock at the news, and even Jiraiya's front faltered for a moment. "Not only is his new technique _extremely_ powerful, but it's of particular interest to you, Jiraiya."

Clearing his throat to make sure that his voice would be steady, Jiraiya prepared himself to ask the question he knew she was waiting for. "And why exactly would that be, Tsunade?"

"Think about it Jiraiya: what was the _only_ thing that Yondaime _ever_ gave up on?"

"Rasengan tama of…" As realization hit him, Jiraiya felt a small surge of fear at what she was implying. "He… that's impossible! We spent two years trying to figure out a way to make that technique work! I'll admit that Naruto's determination helps him a lot, but he's no genius. If you actually expect me to believe--"

"Actually Jiraiya, I don't really care whether you believe me or not. We have ten witnesses to the success of Naruto's 'rasengan dangan,' as well as its sister technique: 'oodama dangan.' Not only do these techniques add power and versatility to the originals, Sakura informs me that they move at ridiculous speeds. Oodama dangan apparently moves quickly enough that Lee's eyes couldn't even follow it…"

Staring at Tsunade in only half shock, Kakashi was considering inventing a new word for the look on her face. "Smug" just didn't cover it any longer. Once he managed to calm himself down from the thought of Naruto's technique, which didn't take long because of his generally cool attitude, he chanced a glance at Jiraiya. Said sannin was simply staring at Tsunade, his eyes open almost as wide as his mouth, as he apparently tried to convince himself that either Tsunade or Sakura had lied. Kakashi had to admit, it gave him quite a bit of satisfaction to see Jiraiya so utterly shocked.

Gai, meanwhile, wasn't concerned with anyone else's reactions, as he was far too conflicted within himself. He really wanted to train Naruto, because he knew that Naruto knew the importance of hard work, but he wasn't sure that he would be able to keep up with the boy. If Naruto was really training eighteen hours per day, it would make even his training with Lee seem slightly lazy by comparison. Not only that, he didn't want Naruto to have an even more extreme advantage over Lee. Considering that Naruto already had the same hard work advantage as Lee, as well as the ability to use ninjutsu and a large (considering his age) arsenal of techniques, most of which would be able to kill Lee with a single hit, it just seemed… over the top. Still, he had promised Kakashi that if they confronted Jiraiya he would train Naruto, and Gai was nothing if not a man of his word.

Finally, after much thought, Jiraiya managed to compose himself. "I don't care, it doesn't change anything."

"What do you mean it doesn't change anything? It changes everything, proving you wrong in the process!"

"No it doesn't." Jiraiya gave Tsunade the best cold glare he could, but he knew it contained traces of the shock he still felt. "He'll still never convince Sasuke to come back, Sasuke still isn't his friend, he still needs to face that pain, and he won't realize his dream until he gives up on Sasuke. Even with a technique like that, he's hardly a match for Orochimaru. I'm not going to train him, and he's not strong enough to leave the village without one of us to protect him. Nothing has changed at all."

"You know Jiraiya... Naruto may be an idiot, but you make him look like one hell of a genius. Kakashi, I fully expect you to enter both members of your team in the upcoming chuunin exams. The exams are in Konoha, so Naruto can attend without much danger. As for his training… I think he's probably better off _without_ Jiraiya, but if you want to line something up to help him then I'll support you whole-heartedly. Don't worry about the old pervert, if he does anything to you then I'll fix you up and deal ten times as much damage to him." After giving Jiraiya a thoroughly menacing glare, she turned and left.

"Gai, we're done here. Let's go."

"Yoshi!" And with that Jiraiya was left to his anger, alone on the roof.

* * *

**A/N:** I made up a ranking system! Yatta! Seriously, though, I'm not sure how far this story would have gone without it... I just hope that Kishimoto doesn't reveal the real one tomorrow just to make me look like an idiot. As for the weights... I'm pretty sure that we were never told what Lee's weights actually weigh, so I'm gonna pretend that they were 750 pounds in the chuunin exams.

I couldn't really resist having Naruto kick ass at shougi, given that he's always been ridiculously good at coming up with strategies on a moment's notice. His strategy against Zabuza was way more surprising than Shikamaru's strategy against Temari, and Naruto came up with his almost instantly! Beyond that, though, the meetings aren't entirely necessary for the story... A few of the ten of them are honestly concerned, others are jealous enough that they don't mind slowing him down, and the rest would rather not fight Ino and Sakura over it. They're pretty much just the information network now...

Naruto's background story is all worked out now (in my head at least). Although large parts of it are fairly predictable, the core elements are anything but. Some of you will probably hate me when it's revealed, but the general plan hasn't changed much. Sorry for relieving Hoshi of his problems, but I didn't want him hanging around forever…

Before I forget, I feel the need to mention that I _do_ know that the mission where Naruto got to fight the rain-nin again was filler, but I also know that it wasn't part of the filler _arc_. It was a fairly successful plan, so I mentioned it. Also, I _do_ realize that Sakura skipped a fight or two. She's human, so she can make mistakes.

Moving on, some really cool original characters are on their way, but it'll be a bit later. I'm really pretty happy with most of them, but Mabui-chan's still my favorite by far. Fighting might come up in small portions over the next chapter or two, but there'll be a lot more during the chuunin exam. Remember though, I never said I was good at writing fight scenes…

As for Naruto's training… I think Kishimoto introduced that idea just to screw with my head. About four weeks ago I considered having Naruto do _exactly_ the same thing to speed up his training, but I decided against it. Now I'm considering having it introduced near the end of the three year period again, except that I feel like I'd be ripping him off (even more than usual)… Putting that aside for now, don't be too impressed with Naruto's techniques just yet. Even if he's got power, he's certainly no match for Orochimaru. Also, none of them are _truly_ original if you think about it…

You can expect another chapter or so of Naruto's training and such before we get to the chuunin exams, but it's important. Somewhere down the road others will get some more airtime, but for the time being our focus is mostly on Naruto. I've already made it obvious that things are going on in the background (like the thing with Shikato) that you aren't aware of, and you'll probably learn about all of that later, but for now you're watching the blond kid. Deal with it.

All of that said, this story's definitely going somewhere. I'm glad to get so many positive responses to this, and I hope I don't disappoint you with the direction I take. Sorry that the story's getting up so late, but last minute editing took longer than expected... On to the begging: please review! I really enjoy reading your reviews, and I can guarantee that reviewing takes less effort than writing… Pleeeease!


	4. Just an Idiot Savant With All the Luck i

**Prove the Pervert Wrong**

**Chapter Four: Just an Idiot Savant With All the Luck in the World**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I would love to meet the person gullible enough to believe that I do (to laugh at them, _not_ to scam them).**

"Speech"

/_Thoughts_/

"**Jutsu!**"

* * *

As Naruto sat alone in the middle of the training ground (or what remained of it), he came to a startling realization: he was _completely_ out of ideas. Having improved the rasengan in every way that he could imagine, he had nothing of Yondaime's left to work with. He had tried reading some scrolls in the library about famous ninja, but most famous ninja had relied on kekkai genkai, unique weapons, or other specialties that he didn't have. Left with only one realistic option, Naruto turned to his own experiences, hoping to find a weakness to correct or a strength to develop. 

Starting with his academy years, he tried to remember as many of his fights as possible. A few sparring matches had taken place in the academy, but nothing serious enough to reveal his strengths or weaknesses. The bell test showed that his speed and forethought needed to be improved, but not much else. His part in team seven's first fight with Zabuza was just the plan, and he didn't remember much of the second one.

His recollection of the fight with the grass-nin, team seven's first _real_ fight in the forest of death, was also fuzzy. The rain-nin team was defeated with a kage bunshin trick, not much to work on in that department, and Kiba was basically defeated with a fart. When he came to his fight with Kiba, he was sure that he would find something to work on, but he was wrong. The only real problem he had had in the fight was that he wasn't as fast as Kiba, and Gai's weights were sure to fix that. Fighting Neji had also shown off his lack of speed, but not much else that could really help him.

Getting frustrated at all of the dead ends, Naruto turned to the fight with Gaara. He briefly considered working on the thousand years of pain technique, but decided that it wasn't really worth the effort. Even the fight with Kabuto revealed nothing of interest, which left him with only one major fight that he could remember: Sasuke. Naruto had been purposely avoiding thinking about the fight with Sasuke, mostly because of the things Sasuke had said during the fight, but he realized that he couldn't avoid it forever. Going over the fight in his mind, he quickly realized that it had been the single longest fight of his ninja career. He decided to break it into sections: both normal, Sasuke's bruise thing (no one had ever explained to him what the cursed seal was), Kyuubi's help, and both weird.

The fight while they were both normal had been, in a word, pitiful. Sasuke had _completely_ dominated that part of the fight until its end, which was pretty much a tie. All that Naruto could remember from that part of the fight, however, was that Sasuke's strength and speed had increased drastically for no real reason. Moving on, he was proud that Sasuke had resorted to his trump card first. The chidori through his chest had hurt like hell, but at least Sasuke had felt threatened by his capabilities. Still, Naruto couldn't really think of anything of use except for a healing technique, which he really had no need for. Luckily, the Kyuubi chakra section was much more enlightening. While using Kyuubi's chakra, he had done things instinctively that had turned out to be very effective, and he knew exactly which one he needed the most. Before he could get to work, however, he heard a familiar voice.

"Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei? Why are _you_ here?"

"I'm just here to tell you about some cool training I've lined up for you… if you're interested."

"Of course I'm interested! When do we start?" /_Kakashi-sensei's finally gonna train me! I'll get stronger for sure!_/ "Are you gonna teach me a new technique? Or some super taijutsu move! Oh I know, you're going to--"

"Naruto!" Naruto's rambling ceased instantly at the harsh tone. "I won't be the one training you, it'll be--"

"_Again_? Why won't you train me, Kakashi-sensei?"

"To be honest Naruto, I don't think my training would do you much good right now… I got you something even better, though. How would you like to train with Gai and Lee?" Kakashi's question was answered pretty clearly by the drool from Naruto's mouth, but the boy decided to respond verbally too.

"You got Super-brows to train me? Yatta! I'm gonna get so strong! When do I meet him?"

"Hmm…" Kakashi needed to calculate exactly how late he was. "I'd say about an hour ago, maybe two…"

"What! I'm late? Kuso!" He proceeded to team Gai's training area at a pace that Kakashi couldn't really describe. All he knew was that Naruto clearly couldn't handle Gai's weights yet, meaning that Gai would probably swap them out for lighter ones. Forcing his curiosity aside, he went back to his original task: finding a third member to take the chuunin exams with Naruto and Sakura.

* * *

"Ah Naruto, there you are. I expected you here five minutes ago." 

"Five minutes? Kakashi-sensei said an hour!"

"I know Kakashi, and I didn't want you to be late, so I told him to get you here an hour earlier than I wanted you to be here!"

"Brilliant strategy, Gai-sensei!" Lee was about half way to his nice-guy pose when a question occurred to him. "But… why is Naruto-kun here?"

"Good question Lee!" Try as he might, Naruto couldn't figure out how they kept making their teeth do that weird sparkling thing. "Naruto will be joining us in our training for a while, as he is a shining example of the power of youth!"

"Do you guys talk like that… all the time?" Lee and Gai chose to ignore Naruto's question.

"This is great, Naruto-kun! I look forward to seeing you prove that dropouts can defeat geniuses with hard work!"

"Yoshi! Let's start training!"

"Not yet, Naruto." Gai could tell that Naruto was anxious to get going, something that he admired, but he knew that it would be pointless unless he first gauged Naruto's skill. "First I need to watch you spar with Lee so that I can see your taijutsu in action!"

"What! I have to fight fuzzy-brows _already_?" Not only was Naruto not confident with his ability to move properly in his leg-weights, he had finished his five hours of laps just two hours earlier.

"Relax Naruto, it isn't a full blown fight. The rules are simple: taijutsu only, do your best, and don't give up until I end the match! Ready?" Lee took his normal stance while Naruto shook his head furiously. "Begin!"

Lee, overestimating Naruto, ran at him full speed. Naruto saw Lee's movements clearly, but couldn't dodge with the weights on, so he blocked the roundhouse kick with his arm. Seeing an opening, Lee threw a punch at Naruto's torso, using the remaining momentum from the kick to add speed and power. Naruto tried to jump backward out of the way, but wasn't fast enough with his weights on. Lee's punch sent Naruto flying into a tree, then tumbling onto the ground, where he stayed for a few seconds before standing up. Never one to take the defensive, Naruto charged Lee and threw a punch at the boy's head. Lee merely caught Naruto's punch and redirected it towards the ground before chopping the newly exposed back of Naruto's neck. Naruto, of course, fell to the ground with a dull thud. What surprised Lee and (to a lesser extent) Gai was that Naruto got right back up, even though Lee's attack had been a perfect knockout shot.

"Naruto, I think those weights may be too much for you after all… Maybe you should try without--"

"No! I can do this, I _have_ to!" With that, Naruto renewed his offensive. He threw a roundhouse at Lee, which Lee blocked, but then he spun around and followed up with a crescent kick from his other foot. Lee barely had time to register the sudden increase in Naruto's speed before the attack hit his arm right above the first. While blocking the attack was well within Lee's capabilities, the fact that it was unexpected and several times stronger than Lee expected it to be, along with the fact that the first attack had weakened his guard, caused his block to give way. Lee, having been kicked full-force in the face, found himself flying several feet through the air and landing in a heap on the ground.

Naruto, who had fallen after using both of his legs to attack, got up with a smirk. "_Don't _underestimate me, Fuzzy-brows!" Seeing Lee getting up as well, Naruto charged again. On the sidelines, Gai couldn't help but wonder how Naruto had suddenly gotten stronger in the middle of the fight, even if the change hadn't been terribly significant.

Dodging Naruto's punch, Lee went into a leg-sweep to find that Naruto had taken to the air and was about to come down with an axe kick. In one smooth motion, Lee brought his kick upward and into Naruto's back mid-flip, changing Naruto's position and orientation such that his kick missed Lee completely. It wasn't that Naruto got up that shocked the green-clad pair, it was that he got up almost immediately, didn't seem winded, and showed no signs of being injured in any way. Considering that Lee's kick had connected with Naruto's spine, it seemed unreasonable that he could be completely fine.

"You were right Naruto-kun: I've been underestimating you. I guess it's about time that I stop holding back!"

"Yoshi! I _will_--"

"That's enough Lee! Naruto! I think I know enough about your skills that we can get started!" Lee looked a little disappointed, but Naruto just looked confused, as though he had forgotten what they were actually doing. Finally, after thinking about it for several long moments, Naruto remembered why he had been fighting Lee.

"So you'll train me now? Where should we start? Are you gonna teach me how to open the hachimon! Oh! Are you gonna teach me--"

"Naruto! Listen when I--" Gai, who was used to having his students (Lee, at least) ignore him to the point where a punch in the face was necessary, was surprised to see that Naruto was staring at him completely silently, clearly waiting for whatever he had to say. "Yes, well… I'll start with your strengths. Along with a burning determination that can only be obtained in the springtime of life, you have great resilience! I've never seen anyone take attacks so well before! You also seem to have plenty of stamina, and your ability to come up with unpredictable tactics is amazing!" He struck his nice-guy pose, "I truly admire your spirit of youth!"

"What tactics are you talking about, Super-brows? All I did was fight…" Gai hadn't really been thinking about the sparring match when he had said it, but he was still able to think of _one_ example.

"Well, for example, when you used your second leg to attack the same defensive point on Lee. Not only had the first attack weakened Lee's guard, but the second attack was so unexpected that he didn't think to block it anyway! Combine that with the fact that you maintained momentum from the original attack, meaning that the extra weight was already dealt with, and you're left with the brilliant maneuver which landed a blow on Lee, despite his vastly superior strength and speed!"

"That's a tactic? I just did it because it made sense…"

"That's what tactics _are_, Naruto…" /_How can he not know that?_/ "Anyway, on to your weak points!" Naruto's grin made a triumphant return at the thought of correcting all of his weaknesses. "Speed, strength, and form are your clear weaknesses." Understandably, that statement made Naruto sweat-drop. Gai had basically just said that Naruto's weakness, as far as taijutsu was concerned, was taijutsu. "I can understand that, training under Kakashi, your speed and strength aren't your strong points, but your form is your main weak point. Some of your moves almost look like you made them yourself!"

"I did…"

"You did what, Naruto?"

"I did make them myself. No one's ever taught me taijutsu…" Gai's mouth opened and closed several times, as though he had something to say but couldn't put it to words. Finally, Lee managed to ask just the question that his sensei was trying to ask.

"Didn't the academy instructors ever teach you taijutsu? That's one of the fundamentals that they're supposed to cover for every prospective genin…"

"One of them tried in my first year, but they gave up on me when I didn't do well…" Gai made a mental note to find out who all of Naruto's teachers had been in order to question them personally. Or, better yet, hand them over to Tsunade.

"Well, that won't matter Naruto! As long as you continue to live with youthful passion and work hard, you'll learn gyouken in no time! Actually, that's where we're going to start for today. Lee, you can get back to your normal training while I get Naruto set up."

"Yoshi!" Lee resumed his training, which consisted of punching a log repeatedly.

"Naruto, for now you need to practice the form of a proper punch, as that seems to be your weakest attack." Although Naruto didn't appreciate the criticism, he was happy to learn the correct way to put his weight into a punch, so that he didn't have to rotate his whole body with it. "Practice that for now, and come get me when you've finished 2,000 punches with each hand."

"2,000? That'll take forever!"

"It might take a long time, but it's the best way to grow stronger." Seeing Naruto's look of steely determination convinced him that his new student wouldn't let him down, so he went back to Lee. In the background, he could hear Naruto counting out loud, just like Lee always did.

Twenty minutes later, Gai heard some numbers that he didn't think could be right. "1,200… 1,201… 1,202… 1,203…" Of course, for Naruto to have reached that number so quickly would mean that Naruto hadn't slowed down at all, which would require not only an incredible amount of stamina, but arms immune to fatigue. He decided to blow it off as his imagination, until Naruto called for him about thirteen minutes later. "Oi! Super-brows-sensei! Now what?" Even Lee looked up in shock at how quickly Naruto had finished.

"Naruto, are you really done already?"

"Yeah…" /_Why is that so surprising? I didn't speed up or anything…_/

"Let me see your form to make sure you have it down." Naruto demonstrated two perfect punches, which Gai found somewhat unsettling. "Yoshi! Way to be youthful, Naruto! The next move that we need to work on is your roundhouse kick!" Gai demonstrated the proper technique before telling Naruto to practice it 1,500 times with each leg. "Not only will this perfect your form, it will also help you get used to your weights! This way you can work on all three weaknesses at once!" He went back to Lee, hearing the familiar monotonous counting in the background.

An hour later, he was glad to hear Naruto still at it, although he was surprised that, even with the weights, Naruto's pacing stayed even at about twelve kicks per minute. Suddenly, after about ten more minutes, the counting stopped for a moment, and Naruto mumbled something to himself before continuing at a faster pace. Two hours later, Naruto was reaching the end of his count. "1,498… 1,499… 1,500! Oi! Super-brows-sensei! What's next!"

Gai walked over to him, not entirely sure whether he believed that Naruto had done it. "Let's see your form." Naruto again demonstrated perfect gyouken form, leaving Gai to wonder what kind of idiot had actually given up on teaching him. "Yoshi! Now we need to work on your upper-body strength!"

"What's wrong with my upper-body strength?"

"Well, from the looks of it, I'd say you barely train your upper body at all. Your exercise this time will be," he paused for dramatic effect, spinning in place, "ten laps around Konoha… on your hands!" Naruto stared, open mouthed, at the utterly indescribable absurdity that was Gai's theatrical maneuver. Finally, after ten seconds, he forced himself to process what Gai had said.

"Oh… so the leg-weights will help my arms get stronger too? Yatta!" Not leaving time for a response, Naruto flipped onto his hands before (_extremely_) slowly making his way toward the village. Gai had actually expected him to collapse under the weight at first, and was very impressed.

* * *

/_Let's sum up the situation… Tsunade-sama said that I need to get _both_ of my students in the chuunin exam. I have found _one_ opening after asking around for _two_ days. Tsunade-sama made it clear that Naruto's participation is more important than Sakura's, but Sakura knows both of Asuma's genin better than Naruto does. If I don't find Naruto a team, he won't be able to become a chuunin for years, and he'll probably hate me for it… Kuso…_/ 

Staring at the calendar on the wall nearest him, Kakashi had a sudden realization that changed everything. He quickly paid for his dango and rushed off to the training grounds where Lee, Gai, and Naruto were training. Naruto was making his way around the village on his hands again, but Gai was the important person of the moment. Walking into the clearing nonchalantly, he wanted to give the impression that everything was normal.

"Yo."

"Kakashi, you're late!"

"Yeah, sorry about that Gai, but I have the perfect challenge this time."

"Like I'm going to believe—you actually thought about the challenge? What is it?"

"The challenge this time is to be the first to find an opening for one of my genin to take the chuunin exam. Asuma's team doesn't count, and you can't sacrifice one of your students just to win. Do you accept?"

"What kind of challenge is _that_?"

"A shinobi needs to be able to gather information…" After thinking about it for a moment, Gai decided that Kakashi was right. He had been looking forward to a sparring match, but he could see the value in such a challenge.

"Yoshi! Lee, help Naruto with his training while I'm gone! If I cannot win this challenge, I'll have to do _50,000_ pushups!" Kakashi couldn't help but think that, sometimes, it pays to be a genius.

* * *

Saturday came, the group made their way to the training field, and Naruto was… not there. Kiba found this particularly annoying, as he had no desire to meet with Naruto on a weekly basis anyway. "Ah great, were the hell is he now?" 

"Naruto-kun isn't training? He seemed so adamant about convincing Gai-sensei to train him today, I thought that surely he would at least be training himself at Gai-sensei's refusal…"

"Why would Gai-sensei train Naruto?"

"Naruto-kun has been training with us for almost a week now, but Gai-sensei refused to train him today after hearing about what we do on Saturdays…"

"Gai-sensei's been training Naruto? I thought Naruto was a ninjutsu specialist…"

"He is, but he doesn't want to specialize in anything, so Gai-sensei is teaching him gyouken!"

"Wait, he's gonna be as fast as _you_ now?"

"No Kiba-kun, he isn't nearly as fast as me, but he is getting significantly faster!"

"P-Perhaps N-Na-Naruto-kun is… at h-home?"

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to look, I suppose. That is, as long as forehead-girl doesn't scare him off." Ten minutes of bickering later, the group of ten was standing outside of Naruto's apartment, with Sakura knocking on the door. She was only half surprised when it fell off of its hinges, but they were _all_ surprised by the state of his apartment. Open scrolls, ramen containers, dirty clothes, and used saucepans littered the floor, and the floor was arguably the cleanest thing in the room.

Neji, who had been polite enough not to use his byakugan in case Naruto had been in the shower or something, found the disorder to be somewhat frightening. "How can he live in this?"

"Well, at least we know how he was able to beat you in shougi, Shikamaru. If he can keep track of all of his stuff in here, his strategies are simple by comparison!" Everyone, including Ino, sweat-dropped at Ino's comment.

"Even Akamaru insists on cleaner quarters than this…"

"M-Maybe he… went ahead to I-Ichiraku's?"

"Yeah, Hinata's right, he probably forgot that it's Saturday and went to meet Mabui."

Five minutes later the group arrived at Ichiraku's to find every stool empty, something they had never seen before. Frustrated, they could only think of one other place that he would go: the library. Even though they had seen Naruto reading scrolls, and they knew that he had become friends with the head librarian, the idea of Naruto in the library was still very odd to them. Then again, so was the idea that Naruto had invented S-rank ninjutsu, not to mention that he had defeated Shikamaru at go and shougi.

As they entered the library, they immediately noticed Naruto sitting with Mabui, poring over an incredibly large number of the most basic chakra scrolls. He appeared to be studying from the ground up, which they found odd considering his extensive experience and recent successes. They all slowly realized that Naruto had told Mabui about the Saturday meetings, and that Mabui was a super-genius, which could mean only one thing: he was blowing them off. Ino, enraged at the idea that he would dare to ditch them to go to the _library_, opened her mouth to shout at him before coming to the sudden realization that they were _in_ said library. While she stood with an angry look on her face and her mouth wide open, Lee failed to remember that fact.

"Naruto-kun! I admire your dedication, but even when living in the springtime of life it is alright to take time off to spend with your friends!" If it had been anyone else, it wouldn't have attracted nearly as many stares, but Lee had a way of being about ten times louder than anyone else. Oddly enough, even when every eye in the library was on him he didn't seem to realize where he was. Naruto looked at him like he had single-handedly brought on the end of the earth, but Mabui just smiled at him.

"Lee-kun!" Luckily, she wasn't nearly as loud as Lee. "Oh, you're all here! Good! Maybe you can help!"

"Mabui-chan, I don't think they're here to help…" Naruto's face lightened somewhat, but he still looked angry. "They probably want to try to teach me some time-wasting game or something…"

"They taught you games? Like what?"

"Those games weren't time-wasting, Naruto…" /_So troublesome… Why can't he just lie down and watch the clouds like everyone else?_/ "Go and shougi teach strategy, something--"

"You taught him to play shougi? I love shougi!" Naruto, finding himself unable to speak, stared at Mabui with his mouth open. "Naruto, we _have_ to play some time!" His mouth was moving, but there was no sound coming out, so he gave up. Even if he had been able to speak, he wasn't sure that he had words to express how utterly horrifying he found the revelation that Mabui liked such a boring game.

"Mabui-san, why don't you come with us? I'm sure that there'll be plenty of time after whatever Asuma-sensei planned."

"Sakura-chan, can we _please_ not do this today? I'm having a really hard time figuring something out, and we just found something--"

"Naruto, you can't just train _all_ the time!" Ino, having finally composed herself, couldn't help but express her annoyance. While her annoyance was actually at his sudden growth in strength, not his training habits, she didn't think he needed to know that. "So how about it Mabui-san? We're just going to grab some lunch before heading over to Shikamaru's house."

"Hmm…" Mabui really didn't have to think about it, as she had been hoping they would ask her ever since Shikamaru had mentioned shougi. "I guess I could get one of other librarians to cover for me…" Naruto, who had been trying to think of a way to get out of going, brightened significantly at the thought that Mabui would be coming.

Ten minutes later, Mabui managed to convince another librarian to take over for the rest of the day (not that he could have said no to his boss), and they were off. When Naruto and Mabui turned to go to Ichiraku's, everyone else stopped. Ino was the first to speak up. "Naruto, we were actually going to go get something _other_ than ramen this time. We're all sick of having ramen every week."

Naruto and Mabui looked as though someone had told them that the Kyuubi was attacking again. Their pure terror at the idea of anyone getting sick of _ramen,_ of all things, was exactly what a normal person would have felt when placed in a room alone with Itachi. Not surprisingly, they spoke in perfect unison. "ARE YOU CRAZY? Ramen is the single greatest food that mankind has ever invented! You can't just get 'sick' of it!" The appropriate reaction was seen in the rest of the group: sweat-dropping.

One _very_ long conversation later, ten genin, one chuunin, and a librarian were standing outside of a dango shop. Naruto and Mabui had, of course, lost the argument, but that didn't mean they had to like it. Naruto even tried to run away, but was quickly restrained by Lee, Neji, Chouji, Kiba, and Ino.

"Naruto, just get in the freaking shop! Eating something other than ramen won't kill you!" It was getting to the point where Naruto was being dragged into the shop by five people, and they were barely moving at all.

"It's not that…" The angry look on Naruto's face had been replaced by a strange look that none of them could place, and he seemed to be resisting more with each passing second. "The people who own this shop… don't exactly _like_ me." He had completely forgotten about the argument, and was far more concerned with where he was.

Truth be told, the owners of that dango shop were among the most well-liked people in Konoha, but they were also among those who hated Naruto the most. In their minds, Naruto was solely responsible for every death that occurred during the Kyuubi's attack, including more than twenty members of their family. Once, when he was five, he made the mistake of going into their shop. Although he managed to escape alive, it was mostly because of the interference of several ANBU who happened to be eating there at the time.

Finally, with much difficulty, Naruto was dragged into the restaurant. It wasn't long before an angry scream was heard from the direction of the kitchen. "Die demon-boy!" Before anyone could figure out what was happening, an extremely angry old man ran from the kitchen aiming a knife at Naruto's head. With his reflexes, Naruto could have easily dodged or blocked it, but his friends beat him to it. Neji was using one hand to hold the man's arm and the other to close one of the tenketsu thereon, Lee was twisting the man's other arm behind his back, and Kiba had a kunai to the man's neck. Needless to say, the man was terrified.

"Why are you protecting him? That demon should just die!"

"Naruto, what the hell did you do to this guy?" Sakura, who wasn't sure who to be furious with, decided to ask the obvious question. Mabui looked like she was about to try to kill the old man, but her answer was relatively calm.

"Naruto didn't do anything to this person, except maybe save his life."

"Save my life? He killed almost all of my family! I would have been killed too if--"

"If Naruto hadn't taken the hit for you! He didn't kill your family! You should be on your hands and knees thanking him!" It was at this point that all of Naruto's friends realized the same thing: not only did they have no idea what was going on, but they couldn't think of any way that Mabui and the old man could be talking about the same event.

"_Thanking_ him? What in the hell do I have to thank him for?"

"Mabui-chan, can we just go?" Naruto didn't look his usual determined self. In his place was a defeated-looking boy with a severe desire be anywhere other than that shop. Mabui was about to yell at him for allowing the old man to talk to him like that, but seeing his face changed her mind.

"Yeah, let's go." It took several moments for the rest of the group to follow them, the seeming randomness of the situation being too much for them to handle. Finally, when they arrived at Ichiraku's (no one made a big deal about it), Ino decided that she _had_ to ask.

"Naruto, what was that all about?" He didn't respond in any way, which she took as her cue to drop it. If he had gotten riled up, or looked sadly up at her, or grinned, she would have started yelling, but he was making it obvious that he wasn't going to say anything no matter what she did. When five minutes of silent ramen eating had passed, she decided it was best to get everyone's mind on something else. "So… what technique are you working on?"

Suddenly the entire atmosphere brightened, and Naruto had a huge grin on his face. His mood changed so quickly that it was almost comical to those who knew him well. "It's gonna be _really_ cool." With that said, he went back to devouring his ramen.

"Okay, but what will it _do_?"

He seriously considered telling her for a moment, but decided it would be better as a surprise. "It's a secret!" Seeing that Ino was getting nowhere, Sakura turned to Mabui.

"Mabui-san, did he tell you about it?"

"Nope!" She also continued to eat, much happier at the thought that Naruto hadn't let the man's hatred get to him. As the only person who hadn't face-faulted at her answer, Shino asked the question that he knew everyone else would want to ask.

"How were you helping him without knowing what he was doing?" As always, his voice was completely impassive, but Hinata and Kiba could tell that he was slightly curious. It wasn't so much the way he said things as the speed with which he said them, and he had spoken his question at a slower pace than his normal speech.

She smiled up at him, "to be honest, I probably wouldn't be of much use with his technique anyway… He just asks me whether certain things sound possible or not and how they would work, which doesn't really help me figure out what his techniques are. I can't wait to see it though!"

* * *

Mabui was very surprised to see that Asuma's plan for Naruto was an IQ test. It seemed a rather pointless thing to test a ninja for, in her opinion, but she was confident that he would do well. He had, after all, been learning everything she had to teach him extremely quickly. When Asuma finished calculating Naruto's score, every jaw (except for Naruto's and Mabui's) dropped in awe. How something like that could be possible, none of them had the faintest idea. Sakura found herself getting angry, although she wasn't sure what she was angry _about_. 

"How the hell—Naruto, how can your IQ be eighty-five? That's near retardation!" He grinned up at her sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"I knew it!" Everyone turned to Asuma, who was standing up and pointing at Naruto. "I knew I couldn't have lost to you in shougi! So, how'd you guys cheat?" Shikamaru was far too shocked to rebut. He, a super genius, had lost to Naruto, of below-average intelligence, in two games of strategy. Repeatedly. On Naruto's _first times_ playing the games. The shock that the others were experiencing was somewhat more appropriate: they couldn't figure out how he had invented kage-level techniques. Based on his performance against Shikamaru, they had assumed him some kind of closet genius, but that theory was left debunked. Unless…

"Asuma-sensei, did you cheat on Naruto's test?" Asuma, still pointing at Naruto and waiting for a response to his question, turned to Ino with a look of confusion.

"You… really believe I would do that?" Seeing that she wasn't about to back down, he let out a long sigh. "No Ino, I didn't cheat on his test." Ino was about to draw him into an argument when she was cut off by Mabui.

"Enough about the stupid test! Those things are worthless anyway… I want to play shougi with Naruto!"

"Worthless…? I was told you were a super genius, so you must have taken an IQ test at some point…"

"Bah!" She waved a dismissive hand, "all of those things are unreliable; I'm probably just average. When I took this test it only gave me a 120, and then that other one gave me a 210… If the variance is that much, I don't trust either one of them!"

"Your scores differed by _ninety_ points?" While that fact provided significant comfort for Shikamaru, it gave Asuma a huge headache. "Aw, whatever… I'll go get the shougi board."

Ten minutes into the game, Naruto was beginning to enjoy himself. Unlike Shikamaru, Mabui made all of her movements quickly and provided him with a real challenge. Asuma was off to the side trying to figure out exactly how Shikamaru could be giving Naruto signals once every five seconds from behind, and Shikamaru was standing behind Naruto in the hope that he would better understand how Naruto's mind worked from that vantage point. After a thirty minute match, featuring a total of 720 moves, Naruto emerged victorious.

"Wow Mabui-chan, that was really fun! Thanks for not holding back too much, unlike Shikamaru…"

"Holding back…?" She looked up at Shikamaru, who just shook his head. "I wasn't holding back, you beat me fair and square!"

"Eh?" He tried to allow himself to believe her, but he couldn't. "There's no way that's true! You're so smart, I could never--"

"But it is true Naruto. Mabui and I weren't holding back on you." He looked up just in time to see Shikamaru mouth "troublesome" before turning to look at the others, hoping to catch one of them mid-laugh. Although he couldn't see any sign that they were lying, it didn't make any sense to him.

"I haven't lost in a game of shougi in over four years!" Mabui was positively beaming, which struck everyone as odd considering that she had just lost. "You're the first person I've seen make moves as quickly as I do, too… Wanna play again?"

"Yeah!"

After the second match, which Mabui won, the others started placing bets. Hinata quickly became the holder of everyone's money, as Naruto won seven of nine matches before the two of them decided to call it quits. Sakura decided to make one last effort to complete her mission, taking advantage of the fact that his guard was down.

"What did you say that jutsu was going to do Naruto?"

"It's going to--" He caught himself at the last minute. "It's gonna be really cool!" With a heavy sigh, Sakura gave up and watched Naruto leave to walk Mabui home.

* * *

"I've told you three times Gai: you can't give Neji's spot away for the challenge. It's against the rules." 

"No Kakashi, I found a _real_ opening this time!" Gai struck his most enthusiastic nice-guy pose, hoping to convey exactly how serious he was. It would have been lost on anyone else, but Kakashi knew him well enough to get the message. "This year's top rookie and one of his teammates are ready, but their sensei doesn't think the third member is chuunin level yet. When I told him that one of the 'rookie nine' would be willing to join his team…"

"Well, looks like you win." /_Jackpot!_/ "Now I just have to figure out who goes to which team…"

"Kakashi, you know that you have to put Sakura with the rookies. You can't afford to have Naruto fail because of their inexperience; Tsunade-sama would--"

"Did you say something?" Kakashi tried not to let his eye give away that he had been listening. Truthfully, he had been avoiding coming to that conclusion, but he knew that Gai was right. "Anyway, I should probably talk to their sensei. Who is it?"

"Aoshi."

"Touketsu Aoshi? They let him teach his own son?" It was no secret that Touketsu Kaen was the number one rookie of the year, or that his dad was the weakest of the village's jounin.

"Yeah. From what he told me, Kaen's style is completely different than his, though."

"Later." Just like that Kakashi was gone, leaving Gai to once again scream about 'hip' attitudes. It only took Kakashi about a minute to find Aoshi, and he was glad to see the man alone. "Aoshi, I need to talk to you."

"Ah, Kakashi, I was wondering when you'd show up. From the way Gai was talking, I expected that you would have been here an hour ago." He gave Kakashi a serious look, "I should have known better."

"Yes, well, an old--"

"Don't bother with your stories…" Aoshi let out an amused sigh, barely able to stop himself from chuckling. "Let's just get down to business. Are you giving me Naruto or Sakura?"

"…It depends. How strong are they?"

"Kaen and Shimaru? They're stronger than should be necessary to pass the exam, if that's what you're asking."

"It's not." Seeing Aoshi's confused look, he let out a sigh. "You probably haven't thought about this, but nearly all of the finalists from the last exam will be participating again. That includes almost all of the 'rookie nine,' along with Gai's team and Gaara's team from Suna."

"Oh, I get it. You don't want to know if they're chuunin level, you just want to know if they're going to be weak enough to drag your student down. I wouldn't worry about that, though, they're both pretty strong for their age…"

Although he could tell that Aoshi was confident in them, Kakashi had his doubts. "Sakura."

"Tsunade-sama's apprentice? I was actually hoping to get Naruto, after seeing him beat the Hyuuga last time, but I suppose she'll do." /_Kaen will be a little disappointed…_/

"Well, I'd better tell Asuma that Naruto will be joining his team. Later."

* * *

Saturday rolled around, and Naruto couldn't have been less happy with his progress. He wasn't any closer to figuring out even the basics of his technique, his progress in taijutsu and strength training had effectively halted (much to Gai's bewilderment), and he was having trouble concentrating on anything other than the previous Saturday's dango shop incident. Just as he was breaking through his concentration block and getting an idea, he was interrupted by Ino. 

"'Chakra Molding: How Does It Work, Anyway?' Naruto, you're actually reading this?" Although he tried to ignore her, his idea was completely lost in the newfound mental haze.

"Maybe we should all start reading remedial scrolls so we can invent S-rank techniques too!" Akamaru gave a yip of agreement, which made Kiba's smirk grow. Hinata and Shino, the two who knew Kiba best, were the only ones who knew that he wasn't kidding.

"Wait, where's Mabui-san?" Tenten, who had been interested in prying information from Mabui, found it odd that she wouldn't be there. Naruto, who had been glaring at Kiba, got a serious look on his face.

"I don't know. She said she had to deal with something personal today…"

"Personal?" He nodded. "She wouldn't tell you anything more than that?"

"I didn't ask." Reacting quickly, hoping to get his spirits up, Sakura changed the subject.

"How's your technique coming along Naruto?"

"Technique?" Looking down, he noticed the scroll he had been reading, and realization hit him. "Oh, _that's _why I was here!" Everyone face-faulted, but he didn't notice. "I was just having trouble getting my chakra to--" He glared down at her so quickly that Ino flinched before getting up. "You messed me up!"

"What! What did _I_ do?"

"You snuck up on me and made me forget my idea!"

"What idea?"

"I was thinking about starting by concentrating chakra in my—that's it!" Reading through the scroll quickly, he saw that his idea was possible, and he couldn't wait to try it out. He jumped up and ran towards the doors before Lee and Neji, still very confused, grabbed him. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Naruto, it's Saturday." Neji couldn't really say that he hated their Saturday activities, but he did find Naruto's attitude to be rather tiresome. It was getting worse than Lee's, and Naruto was becoming generally anti-social. Although he hadn't known Naruto before the chuunin exams, he highly doubted that Naruto had ever been the type to spend most of his time alone.

"Huh? Oh, right…" He looked around at everyone pleadingly, "can we not do this today? I need to go work on--"

"NO!" Seeing that Sakura and Ino were already ganging up on him, Naruto gave in with a heavy sigh.

* * *

"Kakashi, Gai, you know why you're here. Report." Seeing that they were both content to stand in awkward silence, she added "Gai, you first." 

"Hai, Tsunade-sama. When Naruto started training with Lee and I, his progress was phenomenal! His passion was burning brightly, and--"

"Gai, I'm going to have to ask you not to talk like that. You take too long to say things when you rant about the 'spirit of youth' and whatever other crap."

"But Tsunade-sama!" She gave him a menacing glare, which he took as a threat before nodding. "As I was saying, Naruto did very well when he began training with us. Not only did he show good stamina, but his spirit--" he caught himself at the last minute, "er, he works hard too." /_This is going to be harder than I thought…_/ "Lately, though, he hasn't been doing very well. He's having trouble learning forms, his speed and strength are at a stand-still, and he tires more easily."

"Do you at least know why?"

"No." Deciding that he wasn't lying, she nodded. "I would say that his speed without his weights is about the average for a chuunin, and his strength is just short of jounin level." She nodded again.

"Now you, Kakashi."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama. I haven't seen him in action since you replaced me with Sakura, so my information probably isn't up to date, but--"

"Cut the crap Kakashi. I know you've been checking in on him, and I expect accurate information out of you." Seeing the same threatening glare she had given Gai, he decided it was best not to ask how she knew.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you. In case you didn't already know, although I'm not sure how that would be possible, his chakra capacity is beyond kage level. Easily. It's probably considerably larger than yours, realistically. He knows three B-rank jutsu, two A-rank jutsu, and two S-rank jutsu, so I would place his ninjutsu at just below or barely at jounin level." Gai cast a glare in Kakashi's direction, remembering the pervert saying something along the lines of 'surpassed me in ninjutsu.' The glare was, of course, ignored. "As for genjutsu, I'm not sure that he knows any at all, and he's probably horrible at dealing with them…"

"He doesn't know _any_? How can that be?"

"I guess he never cared. It's not required in the academy, even if it is suggested, so he probably never thought it was worth his time. Considering what I've heard about his resistance, I would say he's barely better with genjutsu than the average civilian, to be honest."

"That could be a problem… We can't exactly count on Akatsuki not having a genjutsu specialist."

"Actually, Tsunade-sama, we already know of one: Uchiha Itachi." Her eyes widened in recognition of the name, but she made no comment. "Getting back to Naruto, I think he'll probably at least get to the finals again. His main weaknesses were speed and chakra control, and Gai's already been dealing with his speed."

"What about his chakra control? You didn't mention it…"

"Let's just say that I wouldn't recommend him as a medic-nin, and leave it at that."

"So… Basically, what you two are telling me is that he's currently a ninjutsu specialist with chuunin level taijutsu and near-jounin level ninjutsu?" After thinking for a moment, Gai nodded, but Kakashi shook his head.

"If you're going to sum him up so briefly, you should probably call his ninjutsu jounin level. My earlier assessment was probably wrong, considering that he mostly relies on his B-, A-, and S-rank techniques."

"What was the reason for your first ranking?"

"Well, even if he does know mostly higher level techniques, he doesn't know very _many_." He shrugged, "I guess it's a matter of opinion, but I'll call it jounin level for now."

"Okay, but that doesn't really change much. Even if his growth is impressive, he won't be a match for any Akatsuki members for some time. At least we can expect the chuunin exams to go smoothly…" She let out a heavy sigh, not entirely prepared to ask her next question. "You found him a team, right?"

"I'm putting him with Asuma's team, and Sakura will be with two rookies." A vein suddenly became visible in Tsunade's temple.

"You're putting _my_ apprentice with _rookies_?"

"Unless you would rather she not compete, yes." Gai, seeing Tsunade's glare, couldn't help but feel jealous of Kakashi's ability to stay calm. Even though it wasn't directed at him, he was feeling chills all over his body at the thought of her rage. Oddly enough, Kakashi's calm appeared to be infectious.

"Was it really the only available spot? Tough year…"

* * *

"Come on Naruto, at least tell us what it's going to do!" Naruto just smiled at her, having a little too much fun at her expense. "We might even be able to help!" 

"Let it go Ino, you're being too troublesome…"

"Shut up Shikamaru!" Naruto took a happy slurp of ramen, finishing off his twentieth bowl and drawing her attention back to him. "At least give us a hint!"

"A hint?" Thinking about it, he decided to do the most annoying thing possible: give a ridiculously vague hint that could mean almost anything. "It'll be loud." Everyone took a moment to process the hint before realizing just how vague it was. It didn't take a genius to realize that he had intended it that way, just to annoy them.

"What the hell kind of hint is that?" He just smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Right as she was about to hit him over the back of the head, Shikamaru did something she had never thought him capable of: he took initiative.

"Leave him alone Ino, we've got a shougi game to get to." Several minutes later they were all gathered in Shikamaru's room _again_, something that most of them were getting rather tired of. Before the game could begin, however, Shikamaru had an important question to ask. "Okay Naruto, I have to know. How do you do it?"

Naruto gave him a blank stare. "How do I do what?"

"How do you make your moves so quickly?" Shikamaru was in one of those rare moods where he not only didn't feel like being lazy, he felt like specifically _doing_ something, so he went for it. "I could understand losing to you, but not when you don't even think about what you're doing."

"I think about what I'm doing!"

"I know that, I'm asking how you do it so quickly."

"Oh… I don't know, I just… do." Everyone sweat-dropped at his comment, not sure whether he was hiding something or not.

"Walk me through it."

"Walk you through what?" A vein became visible on Shikamaru's temple, alerting Chouji and Ino that he actually _cared_ about the response.

"Walk me through your thought process."

"Oh… Okay, I guess…" /_Why does _he_ care?_/ "First I figure out what you're trying to do, and then I figure out the best way to counter you. After I figure out a way to catch you off guard, I set up my plan in the background, and I pull it off when you don't seem to be expecting it."

"You think all of that through on every turn? In the course of three seconds?"

"Yeah…" Slowly, everyone realized exactly how much thought was actually involved in that. It wasn't exactly an uncommon way of strategizing, but Naruto was claiming that, in the span of three seconds, he could: analyze all of Shikamaru's moves to discern his ultimate strategy, come up with an effective counter strategy, and begin deploying decoy tactics without disturbing said counter strategy. Not only that, but it would require him to make his strategy seem like the decoy, so that Shikamaru wouldn't perceive and counter it.

"Wait a minute, let me get this straight." Naruto gave him a suspicious look, not sure what Shikamaru could possibly be having difficulty with. "So not only are you a brilliant strategist, you also think several times more quickly than a normal person?"

"Eh?"

"Naruto, it would take a normal person several minutes just to analyze my strategy, then another minute or so to come up with a plan. Not to mention that your plans are always too complex for me to figure out, and most people wouldn't even think to put in decoy tactics…"

"You're kidding, right?" Shikamaru shook his head, which almost caused Naruto to face-fault. "But that doesn't make any sense! It's not hard or anything…" Suddenly, they all had a new respect for Naruto.

Five moves into the match, however, it was apparent that something was wrong. "Naruto?" There was no response. "Naruto… NARUTO!"

"Huh? Did you say something?"

/_He's pulling a Kakashi?_/ "It's your turn."

"Eh?" He looked around, not quite remembering where he was, until he saw the shougi board. "Oh, right… What was your move?" Shikamaru pointed to the pawn he had just dropped, and Naruto made his move in response. Throughout the rest of the game it was obvious that Naruto wasn't paying almost any attention, which made the trouble Shikamaru was having all the more frustrating. Finally, after ninety minutes and 175 moves, Shikamaru's strategy was almost complete. Somehow, against all odds, he had managed to slip by Naruto's defenses, and was two moves from making checkmate.

"Naruto, is something wrong?" Shikamaru glared at Sakura, a rare sight, but she was too focused on Naruto to notice. "You haven't been playing normally, and you keep getting weird looks on your face."

"It's just… it's nothing, Sakura-chan." Sakura, having forgotten about the incident at the dango shop after Tsunade had had the man arrested, took this the wrong way.

"Naruto, I already told you! We'll save Sasuke together!" Naruto, who had forgotten about saving Sasuke altogether, suddenly jumped up.

"Chikushou! I have to train!" He was, yet again, restrained by Neji and Lee, who again reminded him that it was Saturday. Grudgingly sitting down, he looked at the shougi board to find a rather odd sight: he was losing. Of course, he had a new strategy in mind, and he kicked it off by using a drop to halt Shikamaru's checkmate.

Ten minutes later, Shikamaru was again glaring at Sakura. He wasn't sure how what she had said to Naruto had made the boy suddenly better at shougi, but he _knew_ it was her fault. With Naruto's focus returned, it was obvious who would win, and it wasn't Shikamaru. If anything, Naruto's randomness had become even more severe than usual, and his plan was leaving Shikamaru in a tight spot remarkably quickly. Twenty minutes after Sakura's comments, Naruto had a checkmate. Two games of go later, Shikamaru was ready to give up on _ever_ beating Naruto at either game. "One of you play against him for once, I need a break."

"Are you crazy? We don't stand a chance against _you_, how are we supposed to beat Naruto?"

"I didn't tell you to _beat_ him Ino, I told you to _play_ him."

"I-I'll play." Everyone's gaze was immediately fixed on Hinata, who was in a corner of the room and almost completely hidden from view. "I mean… if no one else wants to."

"Hinata? You play go?" Seeing Naruto _smiling_ at her, she nearly fainted, but still managed a nod. Honestly, she wasn't sure that she would be able to remain conscious, let alone concentrate, while he was that close to her, but she didn't want to let him down. Had she known how little he actually cared about the game, she probably wouldn't have bothered.

"H-hai." Although he didn't really want to play anymore, he knew it had taken a lot of courage for her to speak up, considering how quiet she usually was. He still felt like he owed her for her words before his fight with Neji, and that event had made her one of his precious people, so a game of go seemed like (and probably was) the least he could do.

"Sure, I'd love to play you, Hinata-chan!" When she realized that he had added "-chan" to her name, she got an extremely heavy blush on her face, opened her mouth as if to say something, and fainted. As she opened her eyes, the first thing she noticed was that Naruto's face was disturbingly close to her own. "Hinata-chan, do you feel okay? You look like you have a fever…" Again, she fainted.

At this point the others felt it necessary to remove Naruto from her immediate vicinity, so he was replaced by Sakura. Hinata awoke and, assuring Naruto that she was okay, took her place by the go board. After the initial shock of being near Naruto wore off, she actually turned out to be quite good at the game, even if she was nowhere near his level. Even though she was disappointed that she wasn't as good at go as Mabui had been at shougi, she was happy for the chance to play against him.

No one was really surprised when Hinata lost, but it did surprise them that she asked to play again. She lost the second match as well, and there wasn't enough time for a third, but Naruto had to admit that he liked her more and more every time she found the guts to talk. He seriously thought she should have seen a doctor about that fever, though. Stopping at the door, Naruto turned to face her. "You know Hinata-chan, you should really speak up more. Things are more fun when you do!" With that he walked out, not even noticing that Hinata had, once again, frozen in place. Shikamaru, on the other hand, realized that he was going to have a lot of trouble removing her from his room.

* * *

Saturday rolled around once again, and once again ten teenagers found themselves headed to the library. When they finally arrived, Naruto once again lived up to his title as the number one ninja in surprising people: he wasn't there. Mabui, hearing their grumbling from her desk, waved them over cheerily. "Hi everyone! What brings you here?" Seeing the vein on Ino's forehead, she was surprised it hadn't burst. /_She seriously needs to calm down…_/ 

"Where is he _now_?"

"Naruto? He said he finished his jutsu, but he doesn't want to show me until he's sure it's ready. He's been out testing it for about an hour, so I'm sure he'll be back soon!"

"HE FINISHED IT?" Hearing nine voices screaming at once (Hinata's "scream" was about as loud as a normal person's "indoor voice") in a library stunned Mabui a little bit, but she let it slide because they were Naruto's friends. "Did he tell you what it does?"

"No… He said it should be really cool though!"

"Well, we should probably go check on him. Bye Mabui!" They all waved as they ran out of the library, and they were at the training area in under a minute. The first thing that they noticed was the unusually large number of branches that had fallen off of the trees in the area, and the second was what sounded like frustrated screaming. "I guess he didn't figure it out after all."

"Then he won't mind our intrusion! Come on Akamaru!" A consenting woof was barely heard over Naruto's newest scream. "Or… maybe he will." As they approached the clearing they could clearly see him standing in front of a few trees, screaming once every few seconds. Akamaru suddenly started shaking and saying something to Kiba right before one of Naruto's screams. "Are you sure Akamaru?" Akamaru gave an affirmative moan.

"What did he say Kiba?"

"He said that Naruto's screams reek of chakra, to the point that it's scaring him."

"But it's not doing anything…"

"That's why I asked if he was sure. There's no doubt about it though, Naruto is definitely pumping chakra into his screams for some reason." After watching him for a few minutes Ino got desperately bored, so she went to stop him. Right as she was about to tap him on the shoulder, things started looking up for him. They watched in awe as his scream created winds so strong that they uprooted a few trees that were near him. It wasn't nearly as powerful as the oodama dangan that they had witnessed, but considering that it was just a scream it was pretty damn impressive to them.

What he said next made them all, including Hinata, very nervous. "That should have been _way_ more powerful… I guess I'll just have to try again!" Turning around to find another set of targets, he noticed Ino. "Oh, it's you." She would have responded, except that she still wasn't over what he had just said. From what she could tell, the technique was already far more powerful than Temari's kamaitachi had been, yet he had said it should be "_way_ more powerful." Finally collecting her bearings, she was instantly filled with outrage.

"What do you mean 'oh, it's you?' I'm your friend damn it!" He just scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"I don't suppose you guys would mind letting me practice a little while longer?" Figuring that it wasn't even worth the effort to respond to that question anymore, they just grabbed him and headed to Ichiraku's. Or, they _tried_ to head to Ichiraku's.

"Naruto, how much do you weigh? I know you eat a lot of ramen, but this is insane!" Lee had a different question entirely.

"Naruto-kun, did Gai-sensei _start_ you on weights this heavy?" Seeing Naruto nod, his eyes went a little wide. "These weights are as heavy as mine, but you're getting used to them so quickly…"

"Wait, he's wearing weights as heavy as yours? The ones that made giant craters in the floor when you dropped them?"

"No." Ino sighed in relief. "The weights I wear now are a little heavier."

"Damn it Naruto, quit making us look bad!" /_So he's gonna be as strong as Lee, a better strategist than Shikamaru, and the best ninjutsu specialist in the village? How are we supposed to compete with _that/

"Fuzzy-brows, I'm not really used to the weights yet…" He resisted the urge to add "which is a good reason for me to keep training!" and run off, but only because he didn't think he could get away.

"I never said you were, Naruto-kun. It's just that it took me over a year to work my way up to this weight, and you were able to start at the same level…"

"I just needed to get stronger, so I forced myself to use the weights…" They all sweat-dropped, not wanting to believe that they had really heard him say that.

"Not this crap again! Even Akamaru knows you're hiding something when you talk like that!"

"Hey! Don't insult Akamaru, Ino!" An offended bark was aimed in her direction. "He's probably smarter than _you_!" Using the argument as a distraction, Naruto tried to sneak away, but Shino stopped him.

"If you two are done with your childish bickering, I believe we were going to lunch." Neji's patience was at its limit, considering that he was giving up the opportunity to go on long-term missions for these (seemingly pointless) meetings. "Also, I think Hinata-sama was interested in another game of go…"

Blushing and pushing her fingertips together, Hinata nodded. "Th-that is, if you w-want… Naruto-kun."

"Of course, Hinata-chan!" He was determined, one way or another, to get her confidence up, even if it meant enduring extremely boring board games. It was obvious that, if she talked more, she would make an excellent friend, and she would probably be happier too.

* * *

Naruto was starting to get _severely_ frustrated. No matter how many times he tried the damned technique, he couldn't get it any more powerful. The worst part was cleaning up all of the fallen trees so that he could tell what portion of the damage was from his latest attempts, which always took an extremely long time, but the constant failure wasn't exactly a pro. 

Luckily for the group slowly approaching him, he had been right: his technique was _very_ loud. If any of the villagers had known what it was they would have complained to the Hokage, but they found the noises to be a little too frightening for investigation. As for the ninja, they were able to sleep through it easily, so they didn't care.

Just as they entered the clearing, which wasn't really a clearing anymore as Naruto had piled all of the trees and branches destroyed in his technique into the center of it, he finished his cleanup. Fortune smiled on them once again as he happened to face away from them, standing about twenty feet away on the pile of logs.

"Yoshi! I'm gonna do it this time!" Neji, more than a little bit curious, activated his byakugan to see how Naruto's technique worked. He seriously doubted that he would be able to copy it, but it couldn't hurt to check it out, right?

What he saw through his byakugan amazed him, even before Naruto used the technique. Under normal conditions, when he wasn't preparing an attack, Naruto's chakra looked relatively normal: slightly larger than average, but hardly impressive. The amount of chakra Naruto was forming for his technique was more than Neji had ever seen even Hiashi produce, and he was doing it _casually_! Some of the chakra was doing something in front of Naruto that Neji couldn't figure out, but most was concentrated to the base of his lungs.

Just as he was figuring out part of the trick to Naruto's technique, Naruto let out a brand new shout. Unlike his previous attempts, which had resulted in a very loud screaming sound, this shout seemed almost silent, but that was hardly the impressive part of it. Finally, after all of that practice, Naruto succeeded in his technique. All of the trees that he had carefully piled up were blown away, some of the ground underneath them was torn up, trees as far as thirty feet in front of him were knocked over, and even trees and bushes to his sides were being damaged. Still standing twenty feet behind him, everyone except Lee was having trouble standing up to the wind. Akamaru had actually been blown off of Kiba's head, and was lying on the ground an additional twenty feet back, unconscious.

After what seemed an eternity, but was actually about four seconds, Naruto's technique ended. They all stared, mouths agape, at the calm form of Naruto standing in the middle of the clear-again clearing, not even registering their luck in not being hit by any of the trees that had rolled in their direction. It was obvious to them that this technique completely negated all of their fighting styles, and made Temari's kamaitachi look like a cool breeze on a hot day. The only one of them who could have conceivably stood a chance against the attack was Lee, and that was just because of his speed and his weights (and even that seemed a long-shot).

Their awe quickly turned to horror, however, as they realized that he was planning to take the chuunin exams with them. Even in their state of open-mouthed horror, they all (including Hinata) shuddered at what he said: "I guess that'll work… for now." As he contemplated finding a new place to train, as he had effectively eradicated all of the targets in his current location, he noticed them standing at the edge of the field, mouths still open and eyes still wide. "Are you guys okay?"

Just as they were thinking about all of the ways he would probably think of to utilize the attack, they found themselves backing away in unison. Catching themselves at the last minute, they forced themselves to remember that he considered them his friends, and that he would never attack his friends without a good reason. Finally, Sakura came back to her senses.

"Naruto, what the hell _was_ that?"

"What, my technique? I couldn't really think of a good name, so I just called it chikara no sakebi (shout of power)."

"I didn't mean the name! What the hell did you _do_?"

"He concentrated a large amount of chakra to the base of his lungs, then used it to force the air out before dispersing it." Everyone looked at Neji questioningly, which almost caused him to sweat-drop. "I have the byakugan, you know. I can see him molding chakra." Seeing the look on Naruto's face, he added, "don't worry Naruto, I don't have nearly enough chakra to copy that technique, and the byakugan isn't as good for copying techniques as the sharingan anyway."

"Oh. Okay then…"

"Wait a minute, why would you want to disperse the air? Wouldn't it be way more powerful as one cannonball blast?"

"I thought that at first, but Mabui-chan helped me figure out that it would end up about the same, except that I would waste more chakra and attack a smaller area."

"So you _did_ tell her about your technique!"

"No, not yet. I can't wait to show it to her, though!"

"You might want to find a way to keep her on the ground first." Seeing that he didn't understand, Shikamaru let out a sigh. /_This guy's a strategic genius?_/ "We were standing behind you and you almost blew us away, so someone like Mabui doesn't stand a chance. Considering her figure, she probably weighs very little so--" he was suddenly cut off by the fists colliding with the back of his head.

"He's right though, Naruto, it really isn't safe for Mabui-san unless you find a way to keep her grounded."

"I'm sure Mabui-chan will think of something!"

"I thought you weren't going to tell her what it does."

"Oh yeah…" Everyone face-faulted. "Well, I'll figure it out during lunch, I guess. Oh wait… you guys will let me show her, right?"

"Naruto, you really need to learn to take a break once in a--"

"It's not that! I promised I'd show her when I finished it! I can't go back on my word!"

They all gave each other the "aw crap" look, knowing that they couldn't possibly keep _him_ from keeping his word. "I guess, but only once!"

"Yatta! She's gonna be so excited!" He started to run to the library, but his speed with the weights on still wasn't up to par, and everyone was soon in front of him. As surprising as it was to him, he found that he didn't even care.

* * *

Strolling towards Ichiraku's, Kakashi thought hard about how to break the news to them. He knew that Naruto and Asuma's two genin weren't likely to get along very well, but the teams were officially set in stone and there was nothing he could do about it. At the very least, he was glad that he had actually managed to find them both teams, as he knew that they were both more than qualified to be chuunin. Making a flashy entrance as always, he gave the standard greeting: "Yo." 

"Kakashi-sensei? Why are _you_ here?"

"Actually, Naruto, I'm here to tell you about your team for the chuunin exams, if you're interested."

"You got me in the exams? Who's joining our team?"

"Er, about that… Sakura, Naruto, I had to split the two of you up to get you both in." Naruto looked crestfallen, and Sakura didn't look very happy either. The truth was that Sakura felt cheated, not getting to be with her own teammate after he had finally become so strong, but she could understand that it would be hard to find a single applicant to join them. "Sakura, you're with the top rookie and a teammate of his. Naruto, you're with Ino and Chouji."

"WHAT! You're putting me on a team with her? Why--"

"Naruto, that's enough. I can't change the teams now, and even if I could I wouldn't. Just trust me on this, okay?" Naruto gave him a powerful glare, but nodded all the same. Ino looked absolutely livid, but didn't say anything, and Hinata looked utterly depressed. "Oh, before I go, how's your training going?"

"I was just about to go show Mabui-chan my new technique!"

"You made _another_ technique? Hmm… Mind if I come?"

"Sure, you can be Mabui-chan's anchor!" Mabui and Kakashi looked at him in the same way at the same time before asking the same question.

"Anchor?" They looked around at the others, who all nodded furiously.

Arriving at the training grounds, Kakashi and Mabui were amazed at how much damage had already been done to the area. Naruto then proceeded to hand Kakashi his leg-weights. "Put these on, and stay here." The pair looked at the teens again, all of whom again nodded furiously. Kakashi did as he was told and waited anxiously to see what the technique would do. "Oh, Kakashi-sensei, keep a good hold on Mabui-chan. If she gets hurt I'll never forgive you." After seeing Kakashi awkwardly holding Mabui in a sort of loose hug, Naruto turned around and walked about twenty feet in front of them, facing the patch of trees that the others had been hiding in previously.

Kiba instantly grabbed Akamaru and hugged the puppy to his chest, while the girls all tried to hide behind the guys and the guys tried to brace themselves with chakra. Mabui, who had very little experience with ninja techniques, took these precautions as a bad sign, and became very anxious. Just as she was realizing how anxious she was actually getting, Naruto unleashed his technique, which caused slightly more damage than it had the first time.

Suddenly Mabui found that she was very happy with Naruto's anchor idea, as she was blown back into Kakashi. Kakashi, acting as the anchor, was slightly less thrilled as her mass was suddenly forced into him, causing a surprising amount of pain. Even with the weights, they found themselves sliding back a few inches. When the attack ended, they were both left completely speechless.

"Pretty cool, eh Mabui-chan?" With that, her speechlessness ended.

"Yeah, that was awesome Naruto! Is that why you asked all those questions about dispersing an energy flow?" He nodded. "I can't wait to see you use it in the chuunin exam! This is so cool!"

"Naruto, what did you _do_?" Neji gave Kakashi the same explanation he had given everyone else, and Kakashi's eye widened. "You were able to do that twice in one day? That must require an insane amount of chakra, even for you!"

"Eh? No, it doesn't really use very much chakra…" Kakashi was about to question that assertion, when Neji cut him off.

"The amount of chakra I saw you use in that technique was a _lot_ of chakra, Naruto. Easily four times as much as you used in the last exam, and far more than I've seen even in Hiashi-sama."

"The last chuunin exam? How much chakra did he use then?" /_I knew I should have gotten Sasuke there in time to catch Naruto's match…_/

"Enough to completely enshroud his body, increase his strength and speed, and enable him to defeat my hakkeshou kaiten head-on."

"He defeated _kaiten_ with a head-on attack?" /_Damn. I would have liked seeing that…_/ "And you're saying that this technique uses _four times_ as much chakra?"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei." Somehow it just didn't seem right to Neji to refer to Kakashi without adding "-sensei" at the end. "Probably a little more than that, actually."

Before he would let himself get too worked up, Kakashi decided there was one more important question. "What jutsu did he use against the kaiten in his attack?"

"He charged me with a kunai."

"But that would require… four times… 'doesn't really use very much chakra…'"

"Neji, I don't think you were looking right… I was using _way_ more chakra when I fought you, to the point where my body felt like it was burning."

"No Naruto, you definitely used more chakra on this. It was used more efficiently in the exam, but--"

"Wait just a minute. Are you trying to tell me that Naruto is _wasting_ chakra?"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei. He's using about twice as much chakra as should be necessary because of his poor control."

"Kakashi-sensei, how much chakra are we talking about? Tsunade-shishou said he's always had incredible reserves, so this shouldn't be a surprise, should it?"

"Sakura, I don't have enough chakra to charge a kaiten with a kunai, even one as weak as Neji's probably was." Neji got a rather indignant look, but it was ignored.

"What! He has more chakra than _you_?"

"Oh, we always knew that." He waved it off like it was the most obvious fact in the world, but it was news to everyone else. "The thing that I find impossible to believe is that using more than four times my maximum chakra output doesn't even tire him out. You must have seen wrong, Neji."

"I suppose it's… possible. The chakra did seem to come from nowhere, and he generated it very quickly…"

"NARUTO!" Everyone looked over to Ino, who had just caught Naruto trying to train. "Would you take a damned break!"

"But you guys aren't doing anything, and I don't want to just waste time, so I thought I'd practice it one more--"

"How am I supposed to be excited about having you on my team when you work yourself to death? You won't do me any good if you're too tired to fight!" The argument went on for several more minutes before Kakashi decided to break it up, and even then it was hard to get them to really deal with each other civilly. By the end of the day it was obvious that neither of them would ever be happy with the team arrangements, even if that wasn't what they were complaining about anymore. Luckily for him it wasn't his problem anymore, so he retreated into his book.

* * *

**A/N:** Neji _is_ wrong, just so you know (I won't say by how much). I wouldn't have said anything, but I don't want a bunch of angry reviews… Also, I know that the Kyuubi chakra scream thing was just raw chakra, but _Naruto_ doesn't know that. Considering that he barely remembers anything about it at all, I'd say he made a pretty damn good guess. It's still not really an original technique, but he's probably the only shinobi who can use anything remotely like it… Sorry about the lame name, by the way, but I can't imagine Naruto coming up with a really cool name for everything. There's a technique coming up with a name that I just couldn't resist (you'll see when we get there), but he had to have at least one with a crappy name. 

Moving on, Kishimoto continues to screw with me. Seriously, he just _had_ to specifically state that _all_ ice techniques are kekkai genkai, even though one of my original characters was going to use ice jutsu… Now that I think about it though, I'm not sure what I thought Haku's kekkai genkai was… Luckily I came up with another thing for that character that I like even more, and the new revelation also helps explain another character! Oh, almost forgot, sorry to those of you who dislike original characters. It really can't be helped in this type of story, since we know nearly nothing about what happened during this time period. If there were canon characters to use, I would most likely use them.

Reviews more than doubled after the last chapter, which is pretty cool. I'm still hoping for more from this chapter though, so please review! Speaking of reviews, big thanks to Taal, who pointed out to me that you have to specifically enable anonymous reviews. I always thought it was standard to allow them, but I probably should have checked. They're enabled now, so feel free to leave unsigned reviews!

On a completely unrelated note, just so you know, I am clinically insane. You wanna know how I know? I not only signed up for eighteen credit hours for my first term of college, I managed to convince myself that it was a good idea at the time! As such, updates will probably become considerably less frequent when college starts… Sorry, but I really do need to get these classes out of the way early.

Also, before I forget, I realized recently that I've been misspelling "genin," "Neji," and "hiraishin…" I'm far too busy (lazy) to go back and change it, but I'll (hopefully) be spelling everything right from now on. While I'm talking about errors, sorry that the "official" chapter titles sometimes get cut off, but the actual titles will always be at the top of the chapters.


	5. Of Flashes, Biju, and Crazy, NearlyNake

**Prove the Pervert Wrong**

**Chapter Five: Of Flashes, Biju, and Crazy, Nearly-Naked Female Examiners**

**Disclaimer: If you're trying to track me down to buy Naruto rights from me or something, I'm sorry, but I seriously don't own it. Try Kishimoto…**

"Speech"

/_Thoughts_/

"**Jutsu!**"

* * *

"So you're trying to tell me," Tsunade got out of her chair, "that Naruto not only used _four times_ the amount of energy necessary to charge through Neji's hakkeshou kaiten _head on_, he also said it wasn't very much?" Sakura nodded. "You heard wrong." 

"I… heard wrong?"

"Yes, you heard wrong. Kaiten works by rotating chakra around the body to send attacks off course and weaken them, which means that breaking through requires not only penetrating a solid wall of chakra, but doing it with enough extra energy to stay on course despite being pushed to the side. Not only that, you also have to shield your body from the effect of the kaiten while breaking through it… Charging with a kunai, I would probably only be able to get through the kaiten once or twice in a day, even Neji's."

"What!"

"That's why nobody's usually stupid enough to try it. You either wait until the kaiten ends and attack, or attack indirectly with something that can either get around the defense or stop it. Naruto probably _does_ have more than twice as much chakra as me, but definitely not by enough that he wouldn't even get tired from using that much."

"I heard wrong."

"Yes, you did. You still haven't described the technique to me though, so hurry up."

"H-Hai!" Throughout her explanation of Naruto's 'chikara no sakebi' Sakura couldn't help but notice Tsunade's eyebrow twitching, but she also couldn't figure out why her teacher would be angry. When she finished, however, it became obvious that it wasn't anger.

"Sakura, I understand if you care for Naruto, but I would prefer you not embellish so much in your report."

"I didn't embellish! If anything I toned it down!"

"I don't think you understand exactly what you're claiming, Sakura…" /_Although she should, considering how smart she is…_/ "I simply can't believe that unless I see it with my own eyes."

"Then why don't you ask him to show you?"

"Hmm… Maybe I will…"

* * *

"Naruto! What the hell are you doing?" The library regulars didn't even flinch at the all too familiar sound of Ino's voice. "How are we supposed to work as a team if you spend all of your time training by yourself?" Naruto, who had been on the verge of a breakthrough with his technique, could barely keep himself from crumpling up the scroll in frustration. 

"I'm _trying_ to work on my new technique! Why don't you just train without me?"

"Do you listen at _all_? We have less than five weeks to get our teamwork down, so we need to train _together_!"

"I'm busy! Go ask Chouji or Shikamaru to train with you!" A vein became visible in Ino's temple as her face contorted in anger.

"Naruto, did you already forget that you're working with Chouji and me in the chuunin exams? All three of us need to train together or we'll be in horrible shape!"

"I'll be even worse if I don't get this technique finished, Ino-chan! Either help me or go away!"

"Damn it Naruto, you're coming one way or another!" She started to form the seal for shintenshin, at which point Naruto made a simple connection.

"Is that… the jutsu that lets you go into people's minds?" Ino allowed herself a smirk, causing Naruto to gulp audibly.

"Yup."

"And, when you're in people's minds… you can talk to them, right?"

"What's with the weird questions?" Naruto just gave her the most serious look she had ever seen on him, which caused her to be honest out of pure curiosity. "The only time I've ever interacted with someone while controlling them was when I fought Sakura, and that was only because she had some kind of second mind or something… Why?"

"Uh…" /_Kuso… Does Kyuubi count as a second mind? What if she goes to that weird sewer place and _sees_ it? Will she tell everyone? Just when I managed to find people who acknowledge me…_/ "…I'll come on one condition."

"What is it?"

"You have to promise to _never_ use that technique on me. Ever." Ino, who had been looking marginally happier, turned brick red.

"I can't make a promise like that! How the hell am I supposed to know if you're going to attack me or something some day?"

"I'm not gonna attack you!"

"Not _now_, but that doesn't mean you never will!" She put up a finger to silence his protests while she considered her options, if you could call them options. /_So I can either pledge to never use my technique on him, despite the fact that he can easily rip me apart without it, or I can choose not to have him train with us, which would probably cause us to die in that stupid forest… Great choices…_/ "How about I take secret option number three?"

"What's that?" He could feel himself sweating, realizing a little too late that he could have been more lenient with his condition as she again formed the seal.

"The option where I threaten to use it right now unless you come!"

"NO!" A look that reminded Ino of a scared dog crossed Naruto's features, causing her to drop the seal. "No. I'll go to your stupid training, just let me check out my scrolls…" While Ino normally would have had an over-sized grin after a victory like that, seeing that scared look on Naruto's face had completely unnerved her. It had almost looked like he had thought she was going catch him and put him in a cage.

A few silent minutes later they entered the clearing to see Chouji and Asuma, along with thirty empty bags of chips. Asuma looked slightly surprised to see that Naruto had actually come, but decided that Ino _was_ disturbingly persuasive. Still, Naruto was undeniably good at coming up with strategies (even _he_ had given up all attempts to deny it), so he doubted that Ino would be able to back Naruto into a corner…

"How'd you do it Ino?"

"I just found the threat that works against him, Chouji!" Ino was positively beaming, which Asuma took as a _very_ bad sign.

"What threat would that be Ino? It'd better not be anything too bad, as you _do_ need to work with him to pass the exam…" Seeing her evil smirk forming at his words, he knew that he had been right.

"I just said that if he wouldn't come," she formed the seal again, "I'd have to make him!" Seeing the seal for shintenshin, Asuma nearly had a heart attack.

"You were going to use shintenshin no jutsu on _Naruto_?" Ino nodded, looking fairly happy with herself. "Ino I need you to promise me, on your life, that you will _never_ use that technique on him. Ever." Her smile faded.

"But… why?"

"It's… complicated." He glanced at Naruto, who looked ecstatic, before continuing. "Naruto is, er, special… It could be very dangerous to use that technique on him, for both of you, so I need you to promise me right now that you won't."

"How could it be dangerous?"

"It just could." While Ino stood dazed and confused, Naruto's smile grew wider and wider with each passing moment.

"Yatta! Thanks so much, Death-stick-sensei!" Asuma's eyebrow twitched at the name, as he realized that he would never be rid of it, but Naruto was too busy dancing with joy to notice.

"No." Naruto stopped his dancing, and Asuma's eyes widened slightly. "I can't promise something like that! If I really need to use the technique, I don't want to put myself in danger just to avoid it!" Asuma shook his head, hoping that someone else would suddenly appear and deal with the problem, but not really counting on it.

"Ino, you don't understand."

"That's exactly why I can't make the promise!"

"It's also one of the two main reasons that you need to!" Neither Chouji nor Ino had ever heard Asuma raise his voice, and they found that it wasn't a particularly pleasant thing to hear. "If you use that technique, you _will_ find out why we're asking you not to use it, and you _won't_ like what you find. Naruto has his secrets, and you have yours. You need to respect his secrets and trust our judgment on this."

"Wait… if it's such a big secret, why do you know it?" Oddly enough, it was Chouji that asked the question. "Naruto doesn't even seem surprised that you know, but he's acting like he'll die if Ino finds out…"

"That's… part of the secret, Chouji. You can't know either, it's not just Ino."

"I don't care about all of that crap, I'm still not going to promise something so stupid." Asuma tried to stop the headache by putting his hand to the bridge of his nose, but he found that method rather ineffective.

"You want to try, Naruto?"

"You're giving up _already_?"

"If she's really that eager to die, lose her mind, or whatever else, then I know from experience that I'm not going to change her mind…" He took a long drag on his cigarette, not really sure what else to say. "Sorry, but there's nothing I can really do at this point."

"What about _me_? If she finds out about Ky—er, _that_, everyone's gonna hate me!" Ino and Chouji had their eyebrows raised at Naruto's near slipup, prompting Asuma to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Don't worry Naruto, if I thought she would actually use it I would keep arguing with her, but she probably won't now that she knows it's dangerous. Now, don't you all want to know what training you're going to be doing to fix your teamwork?"

"Asuma-sensei, _you're_ going to train us?"

"Of course I'm going to train you, Chouji! Why else would I be here?" /_Stupid brats… What do they think a sensei _is/ "Actually, Kakashi gave me an idea for a teamwork exercise, so we're going to try that today. The three of you need to take this," he took out a silver bell, "from me."

"You're giving us the genin exam?"

"Kakashi made you do _this_ to become genin? No wonder he never passed anyone…"

"Asuma-sensei, hold on!" Ino, having already forgotten about Naruto's secret, was beginning to register what Asuma had just proposed. "You're a jounin, there's no way we can catch up to you!"

"Are you so sure about that Ino?" Asuma cracked a smile, which almost made him drop his cigarette. "I'm good, that's true, but there _are_ three of you. If you coordinate your attacks well enough, I'm sure you can catch me off guard and get the bell." Hearing the term "off guard" caused Ino and Chouji to smirk, while Naruto adopted a sort of "I'm bored, but I'm still pissed" pout.

"So Naruto, what's our strategy?"

"Eh? Why would _I_ have a strategy, Ino-chan?" Remembering his matches with Shikamaru, all three of them face-faulted.

"What do you mean 'why?' You're a strategy _genius_ you idiot!"

"But… I don't use strategies… I just do what makes sense at the time."

"That's what a strategy _is_ Naruto! How in the hell can you not know that?"

"I thought strategies were those really complicated plan things…" /_So Super-brows-sensei was… right?_/ "Wait, why would I have a plan ready right _now_?"

"Maybe so we don't look like idiots at the beginning of the fight? Come on, think for once!"

"Ino, you shouldn't be so hard on him, you know?" Chouji, running out of chips, decided to end the pointless argument. They had all known for a long time that Naruto was a little slow about things like that, and it seemed unfair to demand strategies from him anyway. She certainly didn't demand strategies from Shikamaru… "I'm sure he'll come up with something, but you don't have to be rude."

"But he… you can't just… fine." /_Although, without a plan, my shintenshin no jutsu might just 'miss…'_/

"Hey, I didn't finish explaining the exercise yet." Seeing that he had their attention, Asuma paused to take a final drag on his cigarette. "First rule: Naruto can't take off his weights. Second rule: none of you can eat until you get the bell at least once. Third rule… no S-rank ninjutsu, because I'd rather not die over something like this." Satisfied with the way that their heads fell at his new set of rules, he threw his cigarette on the ground and stamped it out. "Start!"

Ino and Chouji were about to jump into hiding when they noticed that Naruto was smiling. Right when Ino was about to ask him why, he decided to divulge the information on his own. "I don't need a team for this! I'll be back to working on my technique in no time!"

"I appreciate the cocky attitude Naruto, but I think you're missing the point of the exercise…"

"Like I care!" With that, he formed the familiar seals of rabbit and sheep, and focused his chakra into his muscles. "**Naruto Senkou no Jutsu!**" Asuma, who had never been told about the technique, was more than a little surprised when nothing appeared to happen. Just when he was about to mock Naruto's attitude again, however, he found that Naruto's knee was suddenly _very_ close to his face.

Asuma managed to block the knee without much trouble, but he hadn't counted on that being what Naruto wanted. With his weights on, Naruto knew that he wouldn't be fast enough even to hit an off guard Asuma, so he went for power instead of speed. Not only did he put all of his strength into the attack, he put all of his weight into it. _All_ of his weight, including the two 1,000 pound weights on his legs. Even though Asuma was strong enough to block the force of the attack, he hadn't been expecting anything remotely close to that level of power, and his block quickly crumpled into nothing.

Watching from the sidelines, Ino and Chouji found themselves amazed at Naruto's speed and power. The speed was similar to Lee's after taking off his weights in the chuunin exam, and the power was enough to not only break Asuma's block, but send him flying several dozen feet. Of course, they remembered him shouting the same technique name on the way to Ichiraku's several weeks earlier, but they hadn't thought it was an actual technique!

Taking advantage of his attack's success, Naruto chased after the retreating form of Asuma, hoping to use the shock and the injury to get his hands on the bell. Most unfortunately, good ole Death-stick-sensei came to his senses before hitting the ground, and was fully prepared for Naruto's assault. In less than a second, Naruto was on the ground with his arm behind his back.

"I have to admit, that was pretty damn good Naruto. I'd hate to try again without your weights… Good thing that's against the rules!" Hearing Naruto snarl, he decided not to push his luck. Even if S-rank techniques were against the rules, he knew that rasengan was only A-rank, and he wasn't eager to be on the receiving end of Yondaime's attack. "Looks like you'll need their help after all, doesn't it?"

"No, damn it! I can't need their help! Chikushou!" In his blind determination and frustration, Naruto poured nearly all of his chakra into the technique, to the point where it became clearly visible around him. Suddenly very much reminded of Naruto's fight with Neji, Asuma panicked at the thought that Naruto was about to unleash some of Kyuubi's chakra, but didn't loosen his grip. "Let… me… GO!"

He couldn't figure out how it was happening, but one thing was clear to Asuma: Naruto was overpowering him. Then realization slapped him square in the face: Naruto's weights were on his _legs_, leaving his arms at their best. Knowing Gai, he had probably had Naruto doing arm exercises that utilized the weights, meaning that the boy's arms were a force to be reckoned with even _without_ his weird technique. Given that Naruto had a dim yellow glow about him, Asuma estimated that his strength was probably well beyond jounin level at that point.

Naruto used his newfound strength to free his arm and push Asuma off of him before pushing himself up and charging. Just as Asuma began to pity Naruto's lack of strategic thought, he realized that the boy's speed was continuing to increase. Not particularly eager to lose a fight with a genin, Asuma pulled out his trusty knives. As Naruto's technique still left him slower than Asuma (with his weights at least), he was soon covered in fairly large gashes, all of which were bleeding profusely.

"Seriously Naruto, needing help isn't a sign of weakness! If anything, getting hurt this badly because you won't accept help is what makes you look weak. Now we'll probably have to take you to the hospital, meaning that none of you can eat until tomorrow at the earliest…"

"Damn it Naruto, you idiot! If you hadn't tried to do it yourself we could have had the bell by now, but instead we have to wait for you to heal?"

"Ino-chan, what are you talking about? I'm fine!" She briefly considered hitting him over the back of the head, but the look on Asuma's face was distracting her. Finally, after a few moments of thought, she realized that Naruto's chakra was still visible around his body, and that the blood flow had seriously slowed down. In fact, it almost looked like it had stopped…

From Asuma's point of view, it couldn't have been clearer that Naruto's wounds, which had been fairly serious, had completely healed in the span of about five seconds. He had heard from Kakashi that Naruto healed rather quickly, but he thought this was going a bit far. Still, he couldn't let himself show it. "New rule: if you don't work with at least one other teammate, it doesn't count even if you get a bell. The entire point of this is to fix your teamwork, so it isn't a good idea to go solo."

"What! It'll take me forever to get back to my technique that way!"

"Not everything is about strong techniques, Naruto. Sometimes you need to know what resources are at your disposal and how to use them. In this case, your teamwork is an extremely valuable resource. If you had been working with Chouji and Ino during that first attack, you could have already gotten a bell, but instead you tried to go it alone and lost. Kakashi told me that you actually had pretty good teamwork, but I guess he overestimates you…"

"Naruto, Ino, why don't we go come up with an idea now? It's already after noon and we haven't had lunch yet…" With a heavy sigh, Naruto followed Ino and Chouji, knowing full well that they both expected him to come up with some kind of plan.

"So Naruto, what's the plan?" He hated being right.

"How am _I_ supposed to know?"

"We've been over this! You're even better with strategies than Shikamaru! As far as this team is concerned you're the tactician, so you'd better come up with something soon!"

"Tactician…?" /_I think I've heard that word before… What did it mean again?_/ "Well… to get through Death-stick-sensei's defense, we need an attack that has power and speed, and we also need to draw his attention to something else. He'll be expecting a ploy, so we should probably disguise it with another one, and the second one needs to be more convincing than the first one… Ino-chan, you start by throwing some kunai with explosive tags at him in a semi-circle, ensuring that he'll think we want him to dodge away from you. Chouji, use that rolling technique from the opposite direction towards the kunai, making him think that we're trying to trap him--"

"You think that'll work Naruto?"

"Huh? That's just the first decoy."

"How is that _one_ decoy?"

"It's the obvious one that he'll know is a decoy, because Chouji wouldn't willingly run into the exploding kunai." They both mouthed "oh," but he didn't pay attention. "The second, more convincing one is going to be some kage bunshin jumping down at him from the trees with kunai ready, because--"

"Wait, how do you know where he's going to go?"

"The only option we're leaving open is the air, with Chouji cornering him in a prison of bombs…" /_What, is she stupid?_/ "Anyway, when my bunshin jump down on him with kunai, he'll think that's the real tactic, and he'll focus his efforts on taking care of them. I'll use Naruto senkou no jutsu to get enough speed to sneak up on him and grab him from behind, and you can use that weird body stealing technique to stop him from resisting. Then I grab the bell and we win!"

"You came up with all of that… just now?"

"Yeah… why?" Chouji just shook his head, deciding it was better to leave his comment unsaid. "Oh, almost forgot, there's a chance that he'll use kawarimi after I grab him, and if that happens he'll go to the tree that's behind me but slightly on my left, since that's my weak side. I'll keep a kage bunshin there ready to grab the bell before he can figure out what's happening, just in case."

"Now _that's_ a strategy! Way to go, Naruto!" Other than the heart attack he thought he might have been having at hearing a compliment from Ino, Naruto was sure that his plan was going to work. It _had_ to work, after all, so that he could get back to his technique and save Sasuke.

* * *

/_That ploy was so pathetic… what are they thinking?_/ As Asuma moved through the air, he prepared himself for the onslaught of bunshin that was sure to come. Right on cue, several dozen Naruto's came down from the canopy and began a taijutsu assault. /_Too easy…_ _I won't even need to use ninjutsu for this!_/ Having seen Naruto's taijutsu style in action, Asuma easily took down a half dozen bunshin in a matter of seconds. Suddenly the real Naruto appeared behind him and grabbed him around the waist, but just as he was about to tell Naruto it was no use, he was cut off. 

"Now Ino!"

"Yoshi!" As Ino formed the seal for shintenshin no jutsu, Asuma figured out Naruto's plan. If Asuma dared to escape the hold, Ino's technique would hit Naruto, meaning that he would be solely responsible for whatever damage resulted from such an interaction. Knowing that one of Asuma's goals was to keep Ino out of his mind, Naruto had positioned himself so that Ino's technique had almost no chance of missing, and his idea had probably given Ino the idea that he didn't care as much as she thought about whether or not she got into his mind. "**Shintenshin no Jutsu!**"

Both Ino's and Asuma's bodies slumped forward before Asuma's head popped up with a perky smile. "Way to go Naruto! Your plan worked like a charm! Here, take the bell," she handed it to him, "and I'll change back! **Kai!**" Asuma looked slightly angry, but he had to admit that their teamwork was amazing considering how badly they had been getting along.

"Good plan Naruto, I didn't see it coming at all." /_Kid's got guts, I'll give him that…_/ "I guess you can all eat today, but I should tell you now about the special rule Kakashi came up with."

"Special rule? Asuma-sensei, why were you waiting to tell us if it's a rule for something we already did?"

"Because Ino, this rule doesn't apply to today's game." Seeing that they were confused, he allowed himself a smirk. "We're going to play this game every weekday until the chuunin exam. Every day, until the tenth day, you will be required to get the bell from me one more time than the day before. From the tenth day on, the requirement will be ten times per day, and if you don't meet the quota on a given day, you don't get to eat that day."

"What! Ten times! How am I gonna find time to work on my techniques if I have to do _this_ ten times a day?"

"That's your problem Naruto. From what I've heard and seen of the techniques you already have, you don't really need more anyway."

"But the techniques I have aren't good enough! If I don't come up with some more, it'll just prove that ero-sennin was right about me!"

"Naruto, I think you've already proved him wrong." Naruto glared at Asuma with a cross between loathing and confusion. "I don't know exactly what he said, but two S-rank techniques is nothing to sneeze at. Even Yondaime only ever had one S-rank technique, and Sandaime only developed two. Considering that Sandaime is known as the greatest Hokage, I'd say you're well on your way to stealing that title."

"Asuma-sensei, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Probably, Ino. Naruto, you have all the makings of a Hokage, so take your time and don't rush yourself. The way things are going, you'll probably be a jounin within a year or so of your chuunin exam, and--"

"'Don't rush yourself?' How can I not rush when my best friend is going to be killed by Orochimaru? I'll be Hokage for sure, but I don't have very much time to save Sasuke! Now are you going to help with my technique or am I doing it myself?"

"Help you…? I guess I could try to help you, but…" Naruto's outburst had left Asuma unnerved, and the way that Naruto had asked for help had been totally unexpected. /_Damn, Kakashi wasn't kidding with that title…_/ "To tell you the truth, your techniques are way above my level… How about we go get some BBQ, and you can tell me what you want me to do over a meal?"

"B-B-Q! Yoshi, let's go!" Before Naruto could even nod in assent, he found himself being dragged (slowly, but dragged nonetheless) towards the restaurant. Ino, not wanting Chouji's sole motivation to be food, glared at her sensei, but came along anyway since she knew that he would be paying.

* * *

Hearing Naruto's "explanation," it took all of Asuma's efforts (and a cigarette) to keep his brain from exploding. Mabui had taught Naruto just enough to understand what he was doing, meaning that he had exactly enough information to be as confusing as possible. "Naruto… not only does that not make any sense, it sounds way too complicated to actually use." 

"It makes sense! _You're_ the one that doesn't make any sense!"

/_That was… such a childish reaction…_/ "Be that as it may… how exactly am I supposed to _help_ you with something like that? Even rasengan is out of my league, and this sounds waaaay harder."

"Hold on Asuma-sensei, it didn't sound _that_ complicated…"

"Ino, have you ever tried to manipulate the physical properties of things with raw chakra? I've never heard of anything remotely like that before, even with molded chakra, and--"

"It's not like I haven't done it before!" Asuma looked at Naruto in the way that most people would look at a raving lunatic holding a knife to the throat of a daimyo. "When I was developing chikara no sakebi I did the opposite, so it shouldn't be _too_ hard… Still, it'd be easier to figure out if I had your help."

"Naruto, that weird scream thing did something like that? No wonder it took you so long to get it down…" Chouji kept his thoughtful look for a few more seconds before realizing that Naruto was eating a significant portion of the meat, meaning that he, Chouji, was going to lose out.

"Chouji, don't eat so fast! Naruto came up with the strategy, so we should let him have as much as he wants anyway…" The fa—"husky" boy looked mortally offended by her words, which was an odd sight considering that he didn't even slow down in his eating frenzy. "So Naruto, _is_ that why that attack took you so long to develop?" Naruto nodded, but he didn't look over to her because it would have slowed down _his_ eating frenzy.

"What technique are you two talking about?" Although he had considered not bothering to ask, he realized that if Naruto expected his help with a similar technique, he would need to know as much as possible about it.

"You don't know, Asuma-sensei? Some sensei you are… Basically he screams and--"

"Oi, Naruto!" Ino turned towards the interruption, fully expecting to yell at whatever had caused it, when she registered that it was Tsunade. Seeing a smirking Sakura by the Hokage's side, she couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Luckily, for her at least, the answer to that question wasn't very far off. "I need to see this new technique of yours. The way Sakura tells it, you uproot half of the trees in the training grounds every time you use it."

"Tsunade-shishou, I didn't say that! I just said that--"

"I know what you said, Sakura, and I also know that it's impossible. There's no way that he could store enough air in his lungs for that, and even if he could the air pressure would cause him to explode."

"Good timing Tsunade-sama! I was just asking for more information about his new technique. So… what does it do, exactly?"

"Why don't you come and watch, Asuma? If it _is_ as powerful as Sakura described, it'll be quite a show. If not, which is far more likely… at least you'll have your explanation."

"Hmm… alright, we'll go right after--" Turning back to the table, he suddenly realized that Naruto and Chouji had finished off the entire lunch. A vein throbbed in his temple, and he craved another cigarette. "I… didn't even get one piece…"

"Since you're done with your lunch, we'll be going right now. Come on Naruto…"

"Baa-chan, I was just about to get Death-stick-sensei to help me with my technique! Can't I show you some other time?"

"No for two reasons: you're _always_ training, meaning that there's no such thing as a good time for you, and I'm your boss, meaning that you have no right to refuse me."

"But Baa-chaaan!"

"Naruto, I have a third reason that she forgot." Seeing that Naruto was about to interrupt him again, Asuma raised a hand. "That, er, _stuff_ that you were explaining earlier… I didn't understand it at all. You said that you used the same principle in this technique, right?" Naruto nodded slowly, not understanding where Asuma was going at all. "Well, I guess I should say that I have two reasons that she forgot to mention. The first would be that, if they really work on the same principle, practicing this one will prepare you for the other. My original reason, however, was that if I see this jutsu I might be able to better understand what you were talking about, which means that I could actually help you."

"Really? Why are we still here?" Naruto grabbed their hands and hastily dragged them out of the restaurant, leaving three sweat-dropping teens alone at the table.

"Wait Naruto, I didn't pay yet!"

* * *

"Naruto…" /_He had that much chakra left after the training earlier?_/ "That was… how… you just…" 

"Sakura, you lied to me! This attack is _way_ more powerful than how you described it!" /_This is impossible! Just amplifying the power of his lungs wouldn't do this, he'd kill himself long before getting this much power out of them! What the hell kind of technique did he create…?_/

"Tsunade-shishou, it… wasn't this powerful last time…" Naruto quickly turned around and grinned expectantly at Asuma for a few seconds. When it became obvious that the jounin wasn't going to say anything, however, he took matters into his own hands.

"Death-stick-sensei, do you understand yet?"

"Hell no! If anything, I'm more confused now that I've seen it in action! Not that I can even _remember_ half of the techno-babble you spewed at me…" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that remark.

"It's not techno-babble! Really Death-stick-sensei, it's pretty simple… All I had to do was increase the density of the air while breathing in, then quick-launch it out with a burst of chakra and decompress it as it escaped my mouth before--"

"Damn it Naruto, how is that not techno-babble? Not only are you not explaining _how_ you do any of those things, you're not explaining why doing them has the effect you're going for. I'm not going to be able to help unless you explain it to me properly, and--"

"Naruto, did you really increase the density of the air?"

"Of course Baa-chan! How else would I get that much air in my lungs?" She managed to resist the urge to say "however you do it the rest of the time," but just barely.

"Is it true that this technique doesn't use very much chakra?"

"Huh? Yeah, it only uses about half as much as the oodama rasengan."

"Half as much as… how can that be? This attack is far more powerful!"

"Well, not really… Anyway, I don't know why it uses less energy, but I don't care. Death-stick-sensei, if I explain it all to you, do you think you can help me?"

"Ugh…" /_He's _got_ to be kidding…_/ "Naruto, if it's going to be that big of a hassle, why don't you just figure it out on your own? You can already do the necessary thing in this technique, right?"

"Not really… The thing I need help with isn't compressing or expanding the air, it's--"

"Wait, now I'm confused." Naruto, angry at being interrupted for what had to have been the hundredth time that day, glared at Sakura. "If this technique uses so little chakra, why did Neji say it was so much?"

"Sakura, half of the chakra necessary for oodama rasengan is hardly 'little.' You remember what I told you about S-rank techniques, right?"

"Oh, right…" /_But Neji didn't seem to think the chakra for that dangan thing was very impressive…_/

"Naruto," Asuma lit his cigarette, "how much time do you have to work on it before you're supposed to meet Lee and Gai?"

"About two hours, thanks to your stupid team thing…"

"Two hours? I guess I could help you out for a little bit…"

* * *

"You're insane! This can't be done!" 

"You think I'm gonna let that matter?" Asuma let his eyebrow raise, assuming that Naruto had simply worded his question wrong. "I'll just do it anyway! If the stupid technique refuses to work, I'll make it work so I can use it to save Sasuke!"

"Naruto…" /_What a stubborn kid…_/ "That's… the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Anyway, you're better off working on this technique _without_ my help, because I still don't really understand what you're trying to do."

"You're giving up _already_? What the hell kind of sensei _are_ you?"

"A sensei is someone who passes knowledge on to his students, _not_ someone who helps his students develop new knowledge. What you're looking for sounds more like a partner, which I'm not. I'm really just going to get in the way here, so I'm going home. See you tomorrow at nine!"

"Hey! You can't just--" Asuma had disappeared, and Naruto had no desire to talk to himself. /_Kuso… I really could have used his help…_/

* * *

After jumping out of the way of Chouji's giant fist, Asuma saw that Ino was jumping down at him from above. The real problem was that he wasn't sure if it was Ino or not, and if it wasn't he wasn't sure what Naruto's bunshin was planning on doing. Not wanting to take any chances, he aimed a full-strength kick at her gut. He wasn't terribly surprised when she disappeared in a puff of smoke, and the barrage of shuriken from both sides was even more predictable. After quickly deflecting all of the shuriken, he turned his attention to the spot on the ground where he was sure to land. It was easy for him to spot the Narutos waiting underground, as he _was_ a jounin, but he decided it would be better to pretend not to notice. 

Seeing Asuma landing on the ground, Ino took the opportunity to throw some kunai in his direction before jumping down to charge him. For the life of him, the jounin couldn't figure out why Naruto's bunshin hadn't attacked him yet, but he was getting nervous. Of all of the ninja in Konoha, Naruto was the least likely to wait patiently for an opening, meaning that he had some kind of strategy worked out. Although he got the feeling that he was falling right into their trap, Asuma caught the kunai and threw it right back at her. One of Naruto's bunshin took that as his cue to jump out of the ground right behind Asuma, a big foxy grin on his face.

Ino quickly used kawarimi no jutsu to switch places with the bunshin that had jumped out of the ground, meaning that she was within striking distance of Asuma. Seeing their plan, Asuma made a mental note that there were three bunshin left underground, knowing that the plan would most likely include all of them somehow. Right as he was about to hit her with a punch she switched with another bunshin that had jumped out of the ground, leaving two more. Gaining a little more confidence in himself, Asuma threw a roundhouse at Ino, completely ignoring the sound a bunshin popping out of the ground behind him.

Ino again used kawarimi no jutsu, and Asuma's kick dispelled Naruto's bunshin. Turning around to attack Ino again, Asuma was very surprised to see Naruto running at him. He went to attack Naruto, but then Naruto did the thing that Asuma least expected: he exploded. The jounin was sent flying into Chouji's enlarged hand, which closed around him as Ino popped out of the ground. She couldn't have looked happier when she pulled the bell out from between his giant fingers.

"Good work Chouji! You really did it!"

"Ino… Naruto did most of the work…" He let go of Asuma, who took a moment to dust himself off before looking around.

"Where _is_ Naruto, anyway?"

"Right here, Death-stick-sensei!" Looking up, Asuma saw Naruto hanging upside-down from a tree branch.

"Oh. Well, that's the tenth time, so I guess you can go to lunch now." Chouji let out a shout of joy and ran off to find Shikamaru, hoping that the lazy chuunin would be willing to buy him lunch. "Naruto, before you go… how's that technique coming along?" Naruto gave him the biggest grin he had ever seen, which meant either very good or very bad news.

"I'll have it down in three days!"

"T-three _days_? It hasn't even been four weeks! How could you have possibly made something so advanced so quickly?"

"Well, that's because…" he took a moment to scratch the back of his head, "I'm just that amazing!"

"Oh…" /_Damn confusing kid… Wasn't he a complete idiot a few months ago? Was something just holding him back, or is something pushing him forward now? Because of him they still haven't missed a day of eating, not to mention that he's been growing ridiculously quickly. What the hell is up with him?_/ "Well, see you tomorrow…"

"Yoshi!" Naruto ran all the way to Ichiraku's to find that Mabui was already waiting for him, which worried him a little bit. "I'm not late, am I?"

"Of course not, Naruto! It's just that, since this is one of my days off, I figured I'd get here a little early! Mornings are boring now that you're off training with your team…"

"Sorry about that Mabui-chan, but I haven't got much of a choice…"

"But why can't I _watch_?"

"Because you could get hurt, Mabui-chan! I still don't really understand why you like watching me train, but I'm not gonna let you get hurt doing it!"

"Oh… Well, as long as there's a real reason, I guess it's okay!" They just sat there smiling at each other until Ichiraku came over to get their orders, at which point they both ordered the customary twenty bowls.

"Mabui-chan, you know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"I don't know almost anything about you! You always want to talk about me, so I never really get a chance to ask you about anything…"

"What do you want to know?" She smiled warmly, but was secretly getting nervous. It wasn't so much that she had something to hide as that she didn't want him to find out about her family. If there was one group of people that she couldn't stand to think about, it was her relatives.

"Well, for example… why didn't you become a ninja? You could have been really strong!"

"You want to know why I didn't become a ninja…? Hmm… Well, my dad was a ninja, and he really wanted me to be one, but I really didn't have any desire to become one. When all of my friends started in the academy I just decided not to."

"I thought you said you didn't have any friends…" Her smile quickly faded into nothing.

"I _thought_ I had friends, back then… It wasn't until I was eight that I learned what jerks they really were." As quickly as it had disappeared, her smile made a triumphant return. "Really, though, I wish I'd found out sooner! Then I might not have wasted my time talking to them at all."

"They're really _that_ bad?"

"Yeah! I can't stand those bastards!"

"Oh…" /_All because of me…?_/ "But you still haven't said why you didn't want to be a ninja…"

"That's… complicated. The simple version is just that I don't want to hurt people." Naruto couldn't help but grin at that, admiring her ability to not get violent even when overwhelmed with anger. He had already witnessed that part of her several times when various villagers had treated him poorly in her presence. She had a way of handling things without getting violent that still ensured that her point got across, and he found it amazing to watch. "Besides, I like spending most of my time in the library! It gives me a chance to meet new people and help them, and I also get to read as much as I want! For me, there's no job more fun than that!"

At that point their orders came, so they broke their chopsticks while shouting in unison, "itadakimasu!"

* * *

"You guys think he's got his technique down yet? It's been what, four weeks?" 

"Maybe… Why Kiba, are you gonna run away?"

"O-of course not! It's just that, if he's finishing a technique right now, we should probably be a little… cautious."

"What makes you think that he's going to finish it today?"

"Haven't you noticed that he always seems to finish his techniques right as we show up?" After thinking about it, everyone nodded with wide eyes. "It's like we're cursed or something…"

"What do you mean cursed? We get to see sneak previews of all of his new attacks!"

"Exactly my point, Ino. Remember the last one? I'd rather not have a front row seat for that preview, thanks." None of them were willing to admit it, but they all thought that he had a point.

"Well, we're not gonna just wait here all day are we? Between Asuma-sensei and Gai-sensei he's probably been too busy anyway."

"Actually, Ino-san, Naruto no longer trains with Gai-sensei everyday. He changed it to a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule so that he could work on this technique."

"Oh… Well," she glanced around at the shocked faces, "maybe it wouldn't hurt to be careful…" They soon found out that she had an interesting way of defining careful: Neji and Lee had to walk ten feet in front of everyone else, and she was at the very back behind Hinata.

As they approached the clearing, Neji and Lee found the silence unsettling. Just as they were wondering whether Naruto had changed training grounds again, he came into view. Seeing Neji and Lee stop ahead of them, the rest of the group became very anxious. When they saw what Naruto was doing, that anxiousness was quickly replaced by curiosity, as he was placing small orange balls on the ground and in tree branches at random. After he had placed all of the balls he went to the middle of the clearing and stood completely silently. His friends all came to the same conclusion: they didn't want to be anywhere near any of those balls until he was done.

Over a minute later, Naruto still hadn't moved at all. Just as they were all wondering whether he was waiting for them to leave or say something, he quickly formed the dragon, rabbit, and sheep seals. "**Ninpou: Ryuu no Hikou! (Ninja Arts: Flight of the Dragon!)**" Although they kept their eyes on him, they couldn't tell if anything was happening. The only ones who had noticed anything at all were Neji, Lee, and Hinata, who had their eyes wide at what they thought (correctly) had just happened. Sakura was about to ask them why they looked so surprised when Naruto's head turned to them with a big grin.

"Pretty cool, huh?" She turned to him instead.

"What's cool? Nothing happened…"

"Sakura-san, you didn't notice?"

"Notice what Lee-san?"

"T-the balls, S-Sakura-san…"

"What _about_ the…" Looking around, the rest of them finally noticed that the balls where nowhere in sight. "Wh-when did he do that?"

"Sakura-chan, you should see your face right now!" Naruto fell to the ground laughing, but the laughter was soon replaced by panting. "I guess I used more chakra than I thought…"

"Where are they Naruto?" Everyone looked at Neji disbelievingly, wondering why he didn't just use his byakugan to find them. "All I could see was your body flickering, and then the balls were gone. You couldn't have taken them very far, so where are they?" This question resulted in confused looks from Sakura and Ino, as well as more chuckling from Naruto, who was putting his weights back on.

"Check your pockets." Neji's hands shot into his pockets, and when they emerged they were grasping three orange balls. Searching themselves, the others all found balls as well.

"NARUTO! Don't put things down my dress!" /_Shannaro! I'll freaking kill you!_/

"Sorry, Sakura-chan, but you don't have pockets…"

* * *

"So you only multiplied your speed eight times…?" 

"No way! I wouldn't invent a technique _that_ pathetic Dog-breath! Eight times _on top of_ the five from the other half of the technique, for a total of forty!"

"Naruto-kun, you can… become forty times faster, just with ninjutsu?" /_Even with hard work, I can never match something like that with just taijutsu…_/

"Yeah, but it's draining as hell, and it hurts afterwards…" He took a big slurp of his ramen, "I'll probably only use it if I absolutely have to…" Two fists quickly made contact with the back of his head, causing his face to smash into his empty ramen bowl.

"If it hurt that bad why didn't you have me take a look at you? I _am_ a medic you know! What if it's tearing you up like Lee-san's gates?"

"Yeah Naruto, listen to Forehead-girl for once! It's reckless to go around tearing up your body just to learn a technique! Do you _not_ realize that the chuunin exam is only a week away?" Naruto instantly snapped to attention.

"A week? Do you realize what that means?"

"Yeah, it m--"

"It means that Gaara's probably here! We've gotta go find him!" They were all shocked for the same reasons: Naruto wasn't at all concerned with the exam itself, and he _wanted_ to go see Sabaku no Gaara.

"Are you crazy? That guy's a psychopath! He almost killed Lee, Sasuke, and me!"

"_That's_ why you're upset? Don't worry Sakura-chan, that's not what he's really like. He's really…" He closed his eyes and sighed before getting up with a smile. "He's really just like me! Now come on, we've gotta say hi!"

Everyone got up and (grudgingly) followed him in his random wanderings around Konoha. Rather than asking around at hotels, or even asking around town, he chose to wander around at seeming random. Nearly three hours later, even Naruto was almost ready to give up.

"Naruto-kun, don't you think we've been looking long enough? Maybe they haven't come to town yet…"

"No, Tenten-chan, they're here. Last time they were here more than… Gaara!" Gaara, who had been in the middle of listening to Temari and Kankuro talking, turned towards the voice he heard. When he saw who it was, he did something that frightened nearly everyone in the vicinity: he smiled. It was a _very_ brief smile, barely more than a smirk, but it was enough to remind them all of his old psychotic self. The thing that Temari and Kankurou noticed, however, was that even if it looked the same, the smile was completely devoid of menace; it was a _real_ smile.

"Uzumaki Naruto…" When the pair just continued to stand there, staring at each other, it became too much for everyone else. Unfortunately, they weren't prepared to stand up to Gaara, so they ended up just enduring it for several minutes.

"You wanna go get some ramen with us? I know a great--"

"Naruto! We just ate damn it! _You_ may be a bottomless pit, but that doesn't mean--"

"Ino-chan, don't be so rude to Gaara! It's not like--"

"It's alright, Uzumaki Naruto… we already ate. Temari, Kankurou, we're going back to the hotel." They murmured their assent and turned to leave.

"Okay… see you around!"

* * *

Sakura was beginning to doubt her teacher's ability to blink, thinking that she must have been imagining things when she had seen it before. Tsunade's eyes had become progressively wider throughout her relay of Naruto's explanation for ryuu no hikou, and they were showing no signs of closing any time soon. Of course, there was a perfectly good reason that Tsunade was so surprised, but Sakura had no idea what it could have been. 

"Sakura, are you sure that that's _exactly_ how he said it worked?"

"Yeah… pretty sure. Why? It doesn't sound all that complicated really…"

"Oh, it's complicated. In fact, it's so complicated that Jiraiya wasn't able to learn it."

"Jiraiya-sama had the same idea?"

"Not exactly…" She let out a sigh and closed her eyes, wondering exactly what she should say. "How much do you know about Yondaime's techniques?"

"Yondaime Hokage?" Tsunade nodded grimly, throwing Sakura off a little bit. "Well, I know about the rasengan because you told me, but other than that I just know that he invented shunshin no jutsu and that he was called 'Konoha's Yellow Flash' because of some other technique. Why?"

"Has anyone ever told you… oh, I guess only about three people know… Well, I'll just come out and tell you then. Shunshin no jutsu was an A-rank ninjutsu that Yondaime invented shortly after he passed his chuunin exam. It was the technique that got him labeled as a ninja genius, and he spent a year figuring it out. As the name suggests, it was a technique that greatly increased his speed. To be precise, it made him almost exactly eight times faster."

"Eight times… Are you saying that--"

"He explained the way the technique worked to only one person: Jiraiya. When Jiraiya failed to learn the technique, he asked Orochimaru and I to help him, but we couldn't figure it out either. Yondaime became fairly upset with him for telling us, but that's a story for another day…"

"Tsunade-shishou, are you actually trying to say that Naruto--"

"Based on the explanation that Jiraiya gave us, and the explanation that Naruto gave you, I would have to say that it's the same technique."

"But that's impossible! Who could have taught him?"

"No one." Sakura suddenly sympathized with her teacher's reaction, which was mirrored on her own face. "He _had_ to have developed it on his own. Not only that, but he managed to tack it on to the end of another technique he had that was already superior to Yondaime's shunshin, meaning that his technique is better on nearly every level."

"Not… every level, Tsunade-shishou."

"What does that mean?"

"Using it once left him out of breath, and he said it hurts too…"

"Hmm… I'd say that's more because of his poor chakra control than because his technique is flawed. If I remember correctly, Yondaime said his technique hurt at first too, but he got used to it eventually."

"So… what rank is the technique?"

"Probably S-rank. I never understood why shunshin wasn't S-rank, but there's just no way that something this amazing could be anything less."

"Does this mean that Naruto can go on missions again?"

"No." Seeing that Sakura was about to argue with her, Tsunade became slightly agitated. "Even if he has some powerful techniques, his combat skills aren't nearly good enough to fight Aka—the people that are after him." /_Almost forgot she isn't supposed to know…_/ "We're talking about people that are stronger than Jiraiya and me, so even with Kakashi there it wouldn't be safe for him."

"Oh… I guess that's alright then."

"Yes, it is. What else happened?"

"Naruto went and met up with Gaara, and then the usual stuff at Shikamaru's house."

"Gaara? Who's that?"

"Oh, right, you weren't here for that… Basically a homicidal psychopathic genin from Suna that tried to destroy Konoha during the last chuunin exam."

"Oh, is that all? …Wait… do you mean that he was part of the invasion force?"

"No, he sort of went berserk and attacked on his own. He uses a weird technique that lets him control sand, and he almost killed me and Sasuke."

"Oh, I remember him now. I sent him to help bring Sasuke back. So he tried to kill you and Naruto still likes him?"

"Naruto's the one who stopped him. He wouldn't tell us why he wanted to see Gaara, all he said is that Gaara's really just like him…"

"Oh, so he's a—er, I mean…" /_Damn this is irritating… How did Sarutobi-sensei deal with this all the time?_/

"He's a what?" Sakura had an extremely excited look on her face, as though someone had offered to tell her the meaning of life.

"Never mind." Sakura's face fell, but Tsunade could tell that she wasn't going to give up on it, which was probably a problem. "Still, it sounds like it's probably a good thing that they found each other…"

"A _good_ thing? Based on what I told you just now? Where the hell did that come from?"

"Never mind, it's none of your concern. Anyway, we should move on to that technique I was going to teach you today…"

* * *

"Oi, Gaara! Temari-chan! Puppeteer-cat-guy! Over here!" 

"My name's Kankurou damn it!"

"Uzumaki Naruto… You didn't pass the last exam?"

"Only Shikamaru passed last time…"

"I see…" Gaara caught sight of Ino and Chouji running after Naruto, and noticed that they looked a little wary of him. "Your friends are here." Naruto turned around, saw Ino and Chouji, and turned back to Gaara.

"You guys better make it to the final exam! It'll be boring without you!" Gaara nodded his assent and left, closely followed by his siblings.

"Naruto, don't run off ahead like that! We're supposed to enter as a team!"

"Sorry about that Ino-chan, I was just saying hi to Gaara…"

Several (loud) minutes later, everyone was again cramped into the exam room, waiting for the first examiner to show up. Everyone found it odd that Naruto, who had every reason to be far more confident than he had been the first time, seemed to be avoiding drawing attention to himself. In fact, he was simply sitting in a corner with his arms folded and his eyes closed, something they never would have expected from him. Finally, after a twenty minute wait, the door burst opened to reveal the examiner, as well as about twenty chuunin.

"Everyone shut up and listen! I'll be the examiner for the first portion of your exam, Morino Ibiki! Here's your official warning: there will be no fighting without the permission of your examiner, and even then killing will not be tolerated. Failure to uphold this rule will result in immediate failure." He held up a set of numbered cards, "everyone come and take one of these to determine your seat. We'll hand out the tests when all of you are seated." The examinees all quickly took a number and sat down.

"Alright, you won't be allowed to ask any questions, so you'd better listen up! This is going to be a simple written exam, designed to test whether you're ready to be a chuunin. There are three rules for this exam, and they're all very easy to understand. First, anyone caught cheating will fail. We have plenty of chuunin watching you, so don't expect to get away with anything. Second, you will pass or fail as a team: all three members must pass in order for you to proceed. Finally, you fail if even one question goes unanswered." Many of the candidates complained loudly about the last rule, but Ibiki put up a hand to silence them. "Test takers do not get to make the rules for the test, that's my job. If you don't like them, you don't have to take it." When they all went silent, he allowed himself a smirk.

"You should be able to answer every question on this test if you're becoming a chuunin, and if you can't answer one of the questions you aren't ready for that position. We have ten questions for you, and you have forty-five minutes to answer the first nine before the tenth is given to you." With that, several examiners proceeded around the room handing out tests.

Naruto, who found that he really didn't care whether or not he was allowed to cheat, was greatly surprised by the questions on the test. They didn't even sound like test questions, and they were all very vague. /_'Question one: an enemy has a knife to the throat of one of your teammates and threatens to kill that teammate unless you give them a scroll, but retrieving the scroll was your mission objective. What do you do?' What kind of lame question is that?_/ Looking around the room, it was obvious that everyone else thought the questions were stupid too.

After considering the question for a few seconds, he decided that there was no guarantee that the enemy would let his teammate live even if he gave back the scroll, so he would have tried to get the ally back another way. It only took him twenty minutes to work through the questions, and he was quickly bored with waiting, so he decided to watch everyone else. Sakura and her teammates were all struggling, which he thought was kind of funny, but other than that everyone was doing fine. No one bothered to cheat, probably because the questions were so ridiculous that there was no reason to. When the time came for the tenth question, all of the papers were collected and checked to make sure that every answer had been filled in.

"Numbers ninety-five, ninety-seven, eighty-two, sixty-four, twenty-three, and thirteen, you failed." He waited for them to leave the room before continuing in the most dramatic voice he could manage. "Alright, there's an extra rule concerning the tenth question: you have to decide whether or not you want to take it."

"We get to choose?" It was a rookie from Iwa. "Why?"

"You get to choose because of the impact it has on you. If you don't take the question, you fail the exam, but if you take it and fail it, no one on your team will _ever_ be allowed to take this test again." There was the usual set of protests from the first-timers, but the veterans were busy deciding what the purpose behind it was. Naruto found that he wasn't entirely sure. In the end he decided that it was probably the same kind of question as the one from the previous exam, but with higher stakes. Of course, it didn't really matter to him nearly as much as it had the first time, and he was sure that he would be able to become Hokage even if he couldn't become a chuunin. Ino and Chouji were both fairly nervous, but they saw Naruto sitting calmly and misinterpreted that as his knowing what Ibiki was going for.

Several people decided it wasn't worth it, and several teams ended up leaving. Unfortunately for Ibiki, this left him with over seventy people _again_. He just knew that Anko was going to give him a hard time… "Alright, is everyone here sure that they want the tenth question?" There were murmurs of assent, causing him to sigh before smiling. "Okay, you all pass." After a few outbursts he held up a hand of silence. "Let me explain the test to you. The first nine questions probably seemed somewhat vague to you, but they were checking whether you have what it takes to be a chuunin. A chuunin is a leader, a person who has to take responsibility for the lives of others, as well as the actions of a team. You can't make your decisions based on how much you like your teammates, the rank of the mission, or who your enemy is, or else your decisions will be irrational. At the same time, you can't become so emotionless or racked with indecision that your teammates die because of it."

"Of course, the reason that you weren't supposed to cheat wasn't just that this was a test, it was also that in real missions the leader can't rely on the judgment of others. Even if you might ask one of your squad members for their opinion in some situations, the decision and responsibility are ultimately yours, and you need to know the difference between a good choice and a bad one." He paused a moment to let the lesson sink in, just in case they didn't understand what he meant at first. "The bad decision is, of course, the one that gets the most squad members killed. Good decision-making won't always lead to the success of a mission, and you need to realize that before becoming chuunin."

"Wait a minute!" It was the Iwa rookie again. "You didn't even check our answers! How do you know that we passed?"

"Ah, I'm glad you asked that. You see, while that was the point of the first nine questions, it was _not_ the point of this test. The difference between passing and failing, as far as those questions were concerned, was being decisive and being indecisive. I just thought I should mention it to those of you who passed, since that responsibility might be placed on you." He enjoyed seeing so many people sweat-drop at once, but he knew that he had a limited amount of time, so he continued.

"The final question was the most important, though. In a real mission situation, you won't have the option to drop a mission just because it puts your team in danger. Chuunin take on C-rank missions and above on a regular basis, and have to deal with enemies constantly. Death, which is much more serious than never taking this exam again, is a constant threat for your team. If you're too cowardly to lead a squad into a dangerous situation, but are forced to anyway, it's highly likely that you will get them killed. To become a chuunin, you have to show that you have more guts than that." After his speech, several minutes of silence went by before Anko crashed through the window, making the same entrance she had made the previous year. "You're late, Anko."

"Ah, sorry about that, I was early last year so I guess I over-compensated…" She looked over the crowd in front of her for a moment before grinning. "You went easy on them _again_? Seventy-two people… Okay everyone, this exam may have been easy, but don't expect the next one to be! I'll be your second examiner, Mitarashi Anko! Your jounin sensei will tell you the location of the second exam, so be there by eight tomorrow morning or you fail the exam!"

* * *

The group of chuunin candidates assembled once again, this time in front of the forest of death. It was a somewhat nostalgic scene for those who had participated in the previous exam, and the explanation that Anko gave was almost exactly the same (excluding, of course, Naruto's interruption). Just as some people began to wonder whether she had memorized a script, Naruto chose to interrupt her again. 

"Anko-chaaan, couldn't you think of anything new? I'm already bored with this one!" She instantly recognized him as the one who had interrupted the speech during the previous exam, smirking when she remembered her own reaction to it.

"Wow… You've still got quite a bit of spirit…" She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out what had given him the idea to add "-chan" to her name, but she didn't like it. Deciding that he hadn't learned his lesson the first time, she threw a kunai at the same spot on his cheek. To her immense surprise, he caught the kunai with a bored look on his face. Even worse, as she ran around to get behind him, he watched her with same bored expression. Granted, she had never specialized in speed, but this was the brat that, six months before, hadn't even seen the _kunai_ coming! She had been kind of thirsty, too… Snapping back to reality, she realized that all eyes were on her. Somewhat embarrassed, she walked back to the front of the group, knowing that she had lost her precious intimidation factor. "You have a half hour to fill out your waiver, and then you can exchange three waivers for a scroll. As for you, blond brat, I'll need to speak with your team privately."

"Damn it Naruto! If I fail because of what you said back there, you're gonna be sorry!" Naruto just waved off Ino's complaints, and they were soon alone with a suspiciously smiling Anko.

"How'd you do it kid?" They could only assume that she was talking to Naruto, as she was looking directly at him, but none of them quite knew what she meant.

"Do what?"

"How'd you get so much faster so quickly? It's only been six months, after all." Although they found it creepy that she remembered the incident, Ino and Chouji were actually slightly curious about that as well.

"I… trained?"

"Yeah, but what kind of training did you do? I've never heard of any training that increases speed _that_ quickly."

"I trained with Super-brows-sensei, and I ran a lot of laps, but that's about it…"

"Super-brows? You mean Maito Gai?" Naruto, having never bothered to remember Gai's full name, looked confused, but Ino nodded for him. "That still doesn't really explain it though… Well, you'd better pass the exam!"

"Huh?"

"If you don't, I'll look like a complete loser! A special jounin that can't even outpace someone that failed the chuunin exam? Come on!"

"So… you're saying that you want us to pass just because you couldn't hit me with a kunai?"

"No, I'm saying that if you _don't_ pass, I'm going to make your life a living hell!" Her cheery smile, combined with the cheery tone with which she spoke, was seriously creeping them out. "You'd better go fill out your forms now… you'll fail if you take too long!" Naruto suddenly smiled, causing Chouji and Ino to feel a small streak of fear.

"You know… that threat doesn't really carry a lot of weight with me."

"Yeah, but I had to _try_. Now get going, you stupid brats!" With that she disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Chouji and Ino to their _very_ confused thoughts. Naruto went off to talk to Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou, giving them no opportunity to ask him what he had meant. Reasoning that they had five days to ask him about it, they filled out their forms before going off to talk to Kiba, Hinata, and Shino.

Because of the scene with Naruto, Anko had a little trouble getting everyone's attention when the thirty minutes were up. It wasn't so much the fact that he had caught her kunai as the fact that she had stopped cold mid-assault, but she still blamed him. Not a single person dropped out, and the twenty-four teams were sent to their respective entrances. Naruto, Ino, and Chouji received a heaven scroll, and all of their friends had earth scrolls.

Taking advantage of the time in front of their entrance, Ino made her move almost immediately. "Naruto, what did you mean when you told Anko-san that 'that threat doesn't really carry a lot of weight with me?'" Needless to say, he hadn't been expecting the question.

"Uh… I meant that… You see, Ino-chan… it's really not important."

"Aw, come on, just tell us. You've been acting too mysterious lately, it's not like you." Naruto couldn't help but adopt a sheepish grin at being called "mysterious."

"Really Ino-chan, it's not important! Let's just focus on the exam, okay?"

"Okay… Can you at least promise to tell us later?"

"Tell you what later?" A vein throbbed visibly in her temple.

"What you meant when you were talking to Anko-san!"

"Huh? Oh, right… nope!" Chouji and Ino sweat-dropped, but Naruto didn't notice because their gate was opened right at that moment. They reluctantly followed him into the forest, unsure of exactly where he was headed. Naruto wasn't exactly sure where he was going either, but he knew it would be a bad idea to stay completely still.

After two hours of non-stop running, Chouji and Ino couldn't help but admire Naruto's stamina. Of course, that didn't mean that they were inspired to try to keep up. "Naruto, could we take a break? I haven't had a chance to eat any of the food I brought, and it wouldn't be good to run into other teams while we're still hungry…"

"Chouji, you brought food again?"

"Of course! I don't want to starve to death!" Ino just shook her head, almost ashamed to know him.

"I guess we can stop… I was kind of hoping to get our scroll today though, so let's not stay here too long."

"Today? Why not wait until everyone's tired out from fighting?"

"Because I was hoping to get some training in at the tower before the preliminaries." Ino cocked an eyebrow.

"What makes you so sure there're gonna be preliminaries?"

"Think about it, Ino-chan… Last time, when there were only twenty-one people left, they said there were too many. Only nine people actually got to go to the finals. We know that Neji, Tenten-chan, Fuzzy-brows, Gaara, Temari-chan, Puppeteer-cat-guy, Hinata-chan, Kiba, Shino, and Sakura-chan's team are all going to pass, and that's already twelve people. Add us in, and there'll be fifteen, which is probably too many." Ino instantly jumped up and pulled a kunai out of her holster.

"What have you done with Naruto?" Seeing Chouji's lack of a reaction, she almost face-faulted. "Naruto might be good at strategy crap, but he's not smart and his memory sucks. There's no way he'd figure something like that out!" Naruto just waved it off.

"Ino-chan, put that away, it's me. We _should_ come up with some way of identifying each other, though. I'd rather not have the same problems I had last time…" An image of being tied up while he was trying to pee came to mind. Ino slowly put her kunai away, not completely satisfied that she was talking with the real Naruto, and sat cross-legged on the ground.

"You mean like a password or something?"

"Naw, I'd never remember a password… It'd be better if it was different for each of us though, just in case."

"Okay… what do you have in mind?"

"I have no idea…"

"I take it back, you are _definitely_ the real Naruto." It took a moment for Naruto to understand that it was an insult, but he glared at her as soon as he did. "How about some kind of gesture or something? We'll ask for the password, and if the person doesn't do the gesture we'll know it's not really them."

"What _kind_ of gesture?"

"It doesn't really matter, as long as someone impersonating us wouldn't do it out of habit…" She thought about it for a minute, before deciding on the perfect passwords. "Chouji, yours can be to pat your stomach and say you're full, no one would think to do that." He looked mildly offended, but she didn't care. "Naruto, you should stand on one leg like a stork."

"What! Why do I have to do that?"

"Because no one impersonating you would think to do it!"

"Of course they wouldn't! It's so stupid!"

"That's the point, Naruto! Just deal with it, okay?" He mumbled something, but didn't seem to be offering anything better. "As for me… I'll put my hitai-ate on my forehead, then back on my waist. You guys got that?" They nodded, but neither of them looked very happy about it.

"Let's just hurry up and find an earth scroll so we don't need the passwords…"

* * *

"Kaen, we should slow down, Sakura isn't keeping up." 

"_You're_ the one in the rear, Shimaru. Sakura-san is doing just fine, and I want to try to get our scroll today if possible."

"You're so cold…" Kaen gave him an extremely dark look that made Sakura cringe, but Shimaru just smiled.

"Quit it with the crappy puns or I'll bash your skull in, even if it means I have to wait until the next exam to be a chuunin. I see some people off to the right, let's go see who they are."

"Kaen-san, we _really_ don't want to fight them." Sakura would recognize those three people anywhere. "That's Sabaku no Gaara and his team, they'll tear us apart."

"Really? Sounds fun…"

"Kaen, maybe we should listen to Sakura on this one."

"Shut up Shimaru, I'll fight whoever I want to." Kaen jumped down several feet from Gaara, followed by Sakura and Shimaru a few feet further back. Gaara completely ignored Kaen and Shimaru, but stared intently at Sakura for a few moments.

"Uzumaki Naruto's precious person… what was your name again?" Sakura was definitely _not_ happy that he remembered her.

"H-Haruno Sakura." She tried to smile, but failed miserably. The best she could do was not grimace.

"Do you need a scroll? We have… extras."

"You… would give us one, just like that?"

"If you want one." Kaen looked disappointed, but Shimaru couldn't have looked happier. Temari and Kankurou were confused as to why Gaara would bother to give her a scroll, but he _had_ been acting oddly ever since he had lost to Naruto…

"Sure, I guess. We're looking for a heaven scroll." He used his sand to hand the scroll to her, and she took it with a (non-forced) smile. "Thanks!" /_Maybe Naruto wasn't as wrong as I thought…_/ "Do you guys want to go to the tower together?"

"Gaara was hoping to see Naruto, actually." Temari looked happier than usual, which left Kankurou even more confused. "He thought it would be best if we ensured that Naruto got to the third stage. We've been looking for him for quite a while, but he seems to be moving around a lot."

"Oh… Well, we could go with--"

"Sakura-san, I would prefer to get to the tower as soon as possible." Kaen still hadn't worked out his disappointment at not getting Naruto on his team, and he definitely didn't want to encounter the boy. "No offense to you three, of course."

"None taken."

"If we see Naruto, we'll tell him you're looking for him." Kaen quickly left the clearing, hoping to drag Sakura and Shimaru away with him. The less time he spent thinking about Naruto, the better.

* * *

"Took a bit longer than last time… Let's go to the tower now, I could use a good night's sleep before we start getting ready for the prelims." Akamaru yipped in agreement, and Hinata and Shino nodded. "How many people do you guys think will make it?" 

"Eighteen." Shino's voice was, as usual, completely devoid of emotion. "Team Gai, team Asuma, team Kurenai, team Touketsu, Gaara's team, and one other."

"What makes you so sure, Shino?"

"It's the most logical outcome…" Right after Shino finished his response, which wasn't really much of a response, Akamaru started shaking.

"What is it Akamaru?" Some yipping ensued, and Kiba shot a scared look over at the others. "He says that Gaara's nearby."

"G-Gaara-san?" /_Naruto-kun said that they were alike, but…_/

"Let's go around, I'd rather not die today." Akamaru let out a little whine, which caused Kiba to stop suddenly. "Well, that's bad…"

"What is it Kiba? Has he noticed us?"

"No, but he's headed straight for Naruto, Ino, and Chouji."

"W-What's bad about that Kiba-kun?"

"Hinata, I know that Naruto likes Gaara for some reason, but that doesn't mean Gaara likes _him_. Remember what he did the last time we saw him in this forest?" Of course, there was no way that she could ever forget. The day had been permanently etched into her memory as one of the most terrifying of her life. "Maybe we should go help, just in case." Without waiting for approval, he ran ahead towards Naruto.

Shino followed, but he couldn't help but think about how much he hated Kiba. Hinata followed a short time later, but only because she wanted to make sure Naruto would be okay. When they closed in on Naruto's location, they were surprised to see that Gaara was not only already there, but he was handing Naruto a scroll. Naruto was laughing about something, and Chouji and Ino looked like they were about to have simultaneous heart attacks.

Without any warning at all Kiba jumped down to greet them, leaving Hinata and Shino with no choice other than following suit. "Naruto, Ino, Chouji, you guys need some help?"

"We don't need _your_ help, Dog-breath!"

"What'd you call me? I went out of my way to provide support for you and you insulted me just like that?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, we--"

"Gaara, just call me Naruto! It's weird hearing my whole name all the time!"

"…Naruto, we're going to the tower now."

"Sounds good to me! Come on guys, let's go!" Chouji and Ino, relieved that they didn't need to fight, happily went along with him. As far as they were concerned, Gaara was like the ultimate protective escort, since he seemed to care about Naruto for some weird reason.

"Hey, wait a minute! You can't just ditch us like that after we came to help you!"

"Kiba-kun, you don't need to yell…" Hinata wasn't heard over Akamaru's barking, but Kiba was done yelling anyway.

"Well, we don't wanna be the last ones there do we? Let's go!" He yet again left without their assent, assuming that they would follow just because it was him. They did follow, but only because they needed to go to the tower to pass the test.

* * *

Anko strolled casually into the tower's monitor station, wondering whether anyone had managed to get to the tower during the first day. She was greeted by a particularly excited examiner who couldn't seem to find the words to describe what he was talking about. 

"It's okay, whatever it is, don't worry about it…" /_Why do I get all the uptight losers?_/ "I just came to see if anyone's gotten to the tower yet."

"That's what I… you need… just look at this." He pointed to four monitors, all of which showed people entering the tower.

"Wow, four teams on the first day? That's pretty impressive."

"That's not… they're in… look at the time." /_Stupid speech impediment…_/

Upon examining the time of entry, she noticed something that made her jaw drop. Not only did all of them enter at almost the same time, but… "Four teams passed within the first three hours?" Suddenly she formed a mischievous grin, completely unnerving the man she was talking to. "These final exams might just be fun after all…"

* * *

**A/N: **And there you have it: chapter five. It's a weird cut-off point, I know, but I think it works pretty well. I find myself wishing that I had done more with Ibiki, but at the same time I can't really think of anything else that would have gone with that test… 

Before I forget, I just want to say that Ibiki's exam was on a Saturday. That means that Anko's exam began on a Sunday and lasts until the next Thursday (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday make five days), meaning that his training will resume on a Friday. Just had to clear that up for those of you that are actually concerned with the timeline… Also, while I'm on the subject of time, does anyone know what time of year it was when Sasuke ran away? Does it actually say that anywhere, or do I sort of have free reign?

Just so you know, I find it very annoying that Yondaime was known as "the finest shinobi Konoha ever produced," while Sandaime was known as "Shinobi no Kami (God of Shinobi)." One of them had to have been better than the other, so which is it? At the moment I'm going to assume that Yondaime was the stronger of the two, but Sandaime was _thought_ to be better. Asuma's a little biased, though, so I would think that he considers his dad to be the best regardless of what he's seen.

Okay, I know I said that other characters would eventually get the spotlight, but I've decided against it. The reason is really pretty simple: it doesn't add anything to the story. I had planned a few side-arcs involving Teams Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma, but now they just seem extraneous. Given that including them would distort the flow of the story anyway, I'd rather not put them in. Sorry if that bothers you, but it just wouldn't seem right.

I'm doing my best to work ahead so that I don't go without updates for extremely long periods of time after college starts. It means dedicating more of my time to the fic for a while, but I'm actually getting a little bit ahead. Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, I should be able to maintain my update schedule for quite a while…

At this point I'm going to steal X DarthMonkey X's idea of asking you to answer questions in your reviews. By no means am I expecting everyone to answer the questions, and I ask you to please feel free to put whatever you want in your review (if you leave one), but I can at least give you an idea of what type of feedback I'm looking for. My questions for this chapter are:

Were Naruto's tactics against Asuma any good?

Keeping in mind that he's still getting used to having normal relationships, does Gaara seem out of character?

What do you think of Naruto's nicknames for Kankurou and Asuma?

Did I do a good job with Anko-chan?

What'd you think of Kaen and Shimaru?  


Thanks for reading! Please review!

**Edit:** Fixed a small grammatical error that was pointed out to me in a review. If you see any others, please feel free to let me know!


	6. Naruto's True Ambition Construction Wo

**Prove the Pervert Wrong**

**Chapter Six: Naruto's True Ambition – Construction Worker**

**Disclaimer: If you're trying to track me down to sue me for making this fan fiction, you should know that I'm not making money for writing it, nor do I claim to own Naruto. Sorry (not really)…**

"Speech"

/_Thoughts_/

"**Jutsu!**"

* * *

**Pre-Chapter A/N:** Hey all, I'm just gonna take a moment to deal with some stuff that came up in reviews before getting to the story. Nothing bad, really, but I'd rather not have people more confused/disappointed than necessary… I might ramble a bit, but please bare with me.

First issue: more than one person has asked what Naruto meant by saying that Anko's threat didn't carry much weight with him. That was a general reference to the hellish existence that is life as a jinchuuriki, which is why Chouji and Ino didn't understand. I would expect that Anko would know how badly he was treated, so she would know that nothing she could do could ever compete with the hell he's already passed through.

Second issue: my title for chapter five was questioned. Considering the time I put into coming up with chapter titles (the whole fifteen to twenty seconds), I feel the need to defend them. If you'll kindly take a moment to look at the far-left frame of the middle row on page eight of chapter ninety-four of the manga, you'll notice that Anko's bellybutton is clearly visible through the mesh. That implies, to me at least, that it's see-through. While it would be unethical for Kishimoto to make a woman's nipples clearly visible in a manga easily accessed by children (I doubt shounen-jump would even let him), the fact of the matter is that she qualifies as "nearly-naked" in my book.

Third issue: generally speaking, people seem to be okay with the nicknames. The problem is that some of you don't seem to understand the cat reference with Kankurou… I don't really know what the things on his hood are supposed to be, but they look like cat ears to _me_. During their first conversation in the manga, Naruto and Kankurou found each other to be very annoying, meaning that Kankurou _has_ to get a nickname. He's a puppeteer, he has cat ears… Puppeteer-cat-guy!

Fourth issue: how far is this story going to go? I already answered this question in a reply to a review, but I've decided that I should probably tell all of you, just to be fair. This story will end when the Sasuke conflict ends. Also, before you ask, I'm not going to say whether it ends well or not, as that would kill any remaining suspense. There is a strong possibility that I will write a sequel story to deal with some major issues in Naruto's life that will arise later on in this story, but I'll only write the sequel if people still like this story when it ends…

Final issue: while I do appreciate any help you guys try to give me, I just want you to know that it's unlikely (not impossible, but unlikely) that technique suggestions will make it into the story. The timeline's already pretty tight, and I already have a pretty good idea of what techniques I want him to learn. If anyone has a really good idea that not only fits in with his natural style, but also fits in with the other techniques that he's going to learn or seems to be extremely useful in a situation that he's going to encounter, I'll probably be very thankful for the help, but otherwise it probably won't happen… Sorry, but the quality of the story would be compromised if I took every suggestion I ever got.

All of that said, on with the story!

* * *

"Lee, can you take the one on the left?"

"Yoshi!"

"Tenten you take the one on the right. I'll go for the middle one."

"Alright Neji." Tenten drew two kunai and assumed a defensive stance, while Lee and Neji prepared to charge their (rather large) opponents.

"It's no use kid, no one can beat Yawarakai's kekkai genkai. Physical attacks won't have any effect." Neji smirked, causing the cloud-nin to turn red.

/_Obviously, you've never fought a Hyuuga._/ He quickly ran up to the one who was apparently named Yawarakai and planted a jyuuken blast straight to the kid's heart, causing him severe pain before rendering him unconscious. Upon seeing their "invincible" comrade fall, the others dropped their guards, leaving Lee and Tenten mile-wide openings. The enemy dealt with, Neji took the scroll out of Yawarakai's shirt pocket and tossed it to Lee. "Let's get going, I don't want to be the last group to get to the tower."

"Yoshi!" Tenten let out a long, heavy sigh at Lee's enthusiasm, but was glad that they were finished with the test so soon. It only took them fifteen minutes to get to the tower, summon the chuunin with their scrolls, and enter the inner chambers. They were surprised to see that the damage from Lee and Gaara's fight had already been repaired, and the giant statue had even been redone. Instead of the sheep seal, the giant hands were forming the dog seal, which looked far less impressive in their opinion.

Continuing on to where they knew the lodgings were, they were surprised to see eleven people already asleep, as well as one very awake Gaara. "Rock Lee… It's a… pleasure to see you again." None of them could really think of a creepier way for him to have said that, but Lee didn't let it get to him.

"Call me Lee!"

"Lee…" Gaara maintained his far-off manner of speaking, as though he was either deep in thought or in desperate need of something to eat. "You are a… friend of Naruto's?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun is a friend of mine. Why?"

"…Never mind." Even Lee was beginning to be affected by the creepy, blank stare that Gaara always seemed to have. It was almost as though he had no emotions at all. "I'm going to get something to eat." He left the room at a pace far slower than they would have expected, and they used the privacy to pick out beds and go to sleep.

* * *

"Alright, everybody up! Anyone that isn't ready in ten minutes misses breakfast!" With a series of loud yawns, fifteen people slowly sat up in their beds. Naruto, as the first person to entirely regain consciousness, was the one who asked the question on six of their minds.

"There's breakfast?"

"Oh that's right, some of you showed up last minute last time…" Anko's smile couldn't have been more cheery, leaving Naruto to wonder if she planned on poisoning everyone. "Well, I told you that you had to find your own food in the forest, but we don't want those of you who get here quickly to starve. I went to the trouble of making the breakfast myself this time, since you all got here so damned fast, so hurry up and get ready!"

"_You_ made it? What're we having?"

"Dango!"

"For breakfast?"

"Yup! Dango and red bean broth! Everybody's favorite! Now hurry up, unless you want me to be drinking something red _other_ than bean broth!" She slammed the door, ensuring that none of them could go back to sleep. Team Gai, who had arrived only fifteen minutes earlier, groaned slightly, but got ready like everyone else.

As they entered the kitchen, they finally registered that Anko was wearing an apron. It took a moment for them to get over the shock, but they all recovered before she could notice, which was good considering that she would have beaten them into bloody pulps if she _had _noticed. Gaara was sitting at the table, calmly eating the dango with the same bored look on his face, and Anko was eating hers with a wide smile.

"Good, you're finally here. Hurry up and sit down before I eat it all!" They warily sat down and took some dango, glanced at Gaara to make sure he hadn't died from some kind of food poisoning, and started eating, all in complete synchronization. After tasting her dango, they found it hard to believe that Gaara could keep a straight face while eating it.

"This is delicious! Anko-sensei, can you teach me to make this?"

"Sorry, uh…" She thought back to the last exam, "Ino, was it? This is my secret recipe. I'm not even gonna teach it to my kids!"

"Oh…"

A few minutes later Anko, Naruto, and Chouji were practically at war over the remaining dango, causing everyone else no small amount of discomfort. Watching three people eating like that so early in the morning was almost enough to make Ino lose her breakfast, to the point where she actually had to turn away from the table for a few moments. Anko, of course, won the little war, and was wearing the appropriate victory smirk.

"Now, on to business."

"Business?"

"Oh, nothing terribly important. I was just wondering how you all got here so quickly. Also, Naruto, thanks for pulling through for me. My reputation would have been shot…"

"No problem, Anko-chan! I didn't even really do anything…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Gaara gave us an extra earth scroll he had, so we didn't even have to fight anyone."

"He…" She turned to Gaara, "you had _extra_ scrolls in under three hours?"

"Only three: two earths and one heaven. We collected the scroll we needed in the first half hour." She considered questioning his use of the word "only," but decided to let it go.

"Thanks for the breakfast Anko-chan, but I think I'll go do some training now."

"Wait a minute Naruto; we're not done here just yet." Seeing quite a few cocked eyebrows, her smirk grew considerably. "We need to talk about the… 'house rules.'"

"Eh? What kind of rules?"

"I've been warned about the kind of training you've been doing recently by Hokage-sama, and I'd rather you didn't mess up my newly refurbished tower." Temari, Kankurou, Shimaru, and Kaen all looked up at Naruto, wondering what kind of training she was talking about. "I don't want you using any S-rank ninjutsu during your training, and if you use that scream thing she was telling me about I'll kill you myself. We just finished fixing the floors last week, and--"

"S-rank!" Of those who didn't know about Naruto's training, Temari was the only one who understood the jutsu ranking system. "_He_ knows an S-rank ninjutsu?"

"Actually, he's apparently invented _three_ in the last few months… Anyway Naruto, don't go around destroying my tower, 'kay?" Seeing her licking her lips put him off slightly, but he decided to ask anyway.

"Uh, about that, Anko-chan… You're a jounin, right?"

"Yeah, a special jounin. Why?" She took a long slurp of her red bean broth. "You don't want to spar or something stupid like that do you?"

"Heh… no, it's just that I was wondering if you could… help me with a new technique I'm working on?"

"You're working on _another_ technique?" His hand went to the back of his head, more out of habit than anything else.

"Well, I used this one on accident once, and I was hoping to figure out how to do it whenever I want to…"

"On accident…?" /_How do you use a technique on accident?_/ "Sorry, but I'm really not supposed to help you during the exam. Maybe if I find you interesting enough I'll help you afterward, but you're on your own for now."

"Oh…" His voice was dripping with disappointment, so much so that she began to think he _wanted_ to be pitied, just so she would break the rules for him.

"Somehow, I think that three S-rank jutsu will be enough for the preliminaries…" He headed out towards the battle arena wondering how much he could get away with, leaving Kaen to ask the question that was bugging him the most.

"Anko-sensei, what does S-rank mean? I've been told that my techniques are B-rank, but no one's ever explained it to me."

"Your techniques are B-rank? That's interesting… you must be pretty strong. Well, B-rank is indicative of jounin-level techniques, and S-rank is two levels above that."

"_Two_ levels? But there's only one level above jounin… After kage, there's nowhere to go."

"You think so, huh?" She looked around at the rest of the genin, wondering what they thought. It was obvious that most of Naruto's friends knew exactly what an S-rank technique was, probably because of Sakura. "Well that's true, in a way…" Kaen and Shimaru were left completely confused by that response, leaving a silence for Temari to take advantage of.

"But Anko-san, how is it possible for him to have invented _three_ S-rank techniques?"

"Yeah… we aren't really sure about that, to be honest. Hokage-sama says that they were all improvements on A-rank jutsu that Yondaime Hokage created, but other than that I don't know anything. His friends do, though." Kaen looked beyond displeased.

"Wait… Anko-san, you're saying that he knows A-rank jutsu too?" /_I'm still stronger… His techniques are probably useless in real combat._/

"A few. Actually, I heard a rumor that the only reason he was able to become a genin was that he learned a B-rank kinjutsu in one night, and then used it to defeat a chuunin who taught at the academy."

"You believe stories like that? This is a waste of my time, I'm leaving." He got up and left, but he wasn't missed by anyone remaining at the table. Kankurou and Temari had a private discussion about Naruto's techniques, wondering what they could be, Gaara sat quietly staring straight ahead, and Shimaru decided to follow Anko's subtle advice.

"So Sakura, what kind of techniques _did_ he come up with?"

"Huh? Oh right, Naruto… I don't know if he'd want me to tell you all of the specifics, really. You'll probably see at least one of them in the prelims though."

"Oh come on, you can tell me about at least one of them can't you? Pleeeease?"

"What do you guys think? Would he be mad?" Kiba snorted loudly and looked at her like she _had_ to be kidding.

"That idiot? He'd just be happy that he managed to seem impressive to someone." They had to admit that that did sound like Naruto. "You should warn him about that 'oodama' thing, at the very least."

"Naruto wouldn't use something like that in the prelims! That would kill someone even if he missed by ten feet!" That comment caused Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou to look up, but she didn't notice. "He'll probably just use that scream attack, or the one he figured out last week."

"What about that 'dangan' thing? If he wants to end it quick, he'll probably just aim one right at the person's leg or something."

"I don't think he'd go as far as disintegrating someone's leg just to end a match quickly."

"'_Disintegrate_?'" Shimaru was suddenly very pale, but it was Anko who had voiced the question. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"I pretty much mean 'turn into dust…'"

"Wait, did you say it was called 'dangan?' Meaning that it's a _ranged_ attack?"

"Yeah… I guess he wouldn't mind if we told you about just this one technique. He basically figured out how to launch a rasengan from his hand. It goes _really_ fast, too. I couldn't even see it!"

"What's a rasengan?"

"Oh, sorry Temari, I forgot you guys didn't know. It's an A-rank ninjutsu that he learned from Jiraiya. Basically, it's just a ball of swirling air that rips things apart."

"You're wrong, Sakura." Everyone turned to Anko curiously. "It only rips things apart if they're extremely rigid, like a tree trunk. Something that can move around more freely, like human innards, will allow for damage far more explosive due to the rotation."

"Oh…"

"From what I've heard, only one person has ever survived a direct hit from a full-power rasengan, and he was some kind of expert medic-nin that healed himself while he was being hit." Shimaru was looking paler by the second, Gaara looked more interested than he had been in months (which they didn't think was a good thing), and everyone else looked extremely frightened by the idea of fighting someone with a technique like that. "If he really has a projectile version that moves so quickly that you can't see it…" A few moments of silence passed as everyone thought about what she was implying.

"Anko-sensei?"

"What?"

"Don't you have, I don't know, official exam work or something to do?" Anko's smile made a triumphant return.

"Naw, I set up the exam so that I wouldn't really have any work to do while it was going on. I probably _should_ go make sure that Naruto isn't destroying my tower, though…"

"One last question."

"Shoot."

"Since when are you so nice?" Although Sakura had been expecting Anko to get mad, the woman's smile grew even bigger.

"Let's just keep that our little secret, okay?" She gave them all a wink and left the room, none of them sure whether she had been referring to her being nice or the answer that she hadn't given.

* * *

As she neared the arena, Anko felt an incredibly immense chakra being concentrated before she heard Naruto scream "**Ninpou: Ryuu no Hikou!**" What really caught her attention was the sound of concrete cracking, something she was _not_ prepared to tolerate. She dashed into the room to find that there were several foot-shaped impressions in the walls and ceiling, and Naruto looked like he was about to pass out.

"Chikushou! Naruto, didn't I _just_ tell you not to destroy this room?" Naruto, laying face-down on the floor, let out a little laugh.

"I didn't destroy it, I just damaged it a little…" He rolled onto his back so that he could breath better. "Besides, it's not like I _meant_ to do it."

"You're gonna be the one to fix this up, and it had better be ready by the time we have the prelims in here!"

"What! Why? It's just gonna get torn up in the fights anyway!"

"Because I told you so, that's why!" /_Who the hell does he think he is, anyway? Does he realize how much it cost the village to repair this place?_/ "You'd better get off your ass and fix it soon, because I'm not gonna be patient about this!"

"Okay, okay, I'll fix your stupid walls! It's just…"

"What?"

"I'm a little too tired to get up at the moment…"

"After one technique? You? I'm not gonna believe that! Get up!" He struggled for a moment before he managed to sit up straight, but she noticed that he was having trouble moving his legs. "I don't need to get a medic in here do I?"

"No, but it'd be nice if you'd help me get up…" His heavy breathing told her that he was being serious, which she found disturbing.

"So you're actually saying that you, Naruto the freaking chakra _fountain_, used all of your chakra on a single technique?"

"Looks that way… Wait… 'Chakra fountain?' Who the hell calls me 'chakra fountain?'" She walked over and grabbed his hand, ready to pull.

"No one." /_Yet…_/ She pulled him up until his weights were off the ground, but the sudden weight increase at that point caused her to drop him. "Kuso! How much do you _weigh_?"

"Right now? I think he said… about 2,000 pounds."

"Oh yeah, you're training with Gai…" She pulled harder and managed to get him to his feet, but didn't let go of his hand. "Are you sure you're going to be okay like this?"

"I'll be fine!"

"Says the boy who couldn't even stand up."

"Shut up! I'll be fine, I just need to wait for my chakra to come back."

"'Come back?' Chakra doesn't just 'come back,' idiot."

"Mine does!" She decided that he must not have known about the concept of getting a second wind, but she didn't really feel like explaining it to him. "Anyway, I guess I'll fix your _precious_ walls now. Where's the cement?"

"What makes you think I have cement? I didn't plan on you breaking everything so soon, so why would I have repair stuff lying around?"

"How am I supposed to fix it without cement!"

"That's your problem, isn't it?" Her evil smile made its return, giving him the proper motivation to become silent.

* * *

Naruto managed to fix the walls in time, but no one was able to figure out how. Deciding that she didn't really care, Anko had everyone gather in front of the statue to wait for Tsunade to come and kick off the preliminary matches. Said Hokage arrived slightly early, and she wasn't really eager to sit around doing nothing.

"Alright everyone, since there are only five minutes left we can probably start this now. Genma, start explaining."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." He turned to the genin, "my name is Shiranui Genma, and I'll be the examiner for your third exam. In case you haven't figured it out yet, which seems almost impossible given that almost all of you were here last time, there are enough of you that we're gonna have to have preliminaries. If you're gonna give up, do it now. Otherwise, go ahead and get off the stage and we'll show--" Suddenly the doors burst open, revealing three rock-nins. Kiba, realizing that Shino had been right _again_, glared at his bug-using friend, but was ignored when the rock-nins started talking.

"Boufuu, quit walking so damn slow! We only have like three minutes left!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm comin'! Three minutes is better than zero, right?"

"Uh-oh, looks like they already started… Ankoku's gonna kill you if he can't pass the exam because of this."

"Because of what?" The third rock-nin entered the room, "oh, did they start early? I must admit Boufuu, Oka is probably right about it being your fault that we took so long. If you hadn't insisted on taking out all of the competition left in the forest, we could have been here four days ago…"

"But it was fun, wasn't it Ankoku? Besides, we aren't late, so I'm sure they'll let us participate." He turned to the gathered jounin and Tsunade, "ain't that right?"

"You _are_ on time, technically, so I'll explain everything for you right now. I'm the third examiner, Shiranui Genma, and we're going to have a little preliminary match before the third exam."

"Preliminary?" Ankoku's similarities to Gaara were so striking that several of the genin were left unnerved. Not only did they use almost exactly the same tone when speaking, but they looked like twins. If it hadn't been for their radically different personalities, Ankoku would have struck fear into many hearts in that room. "Whatever for?"

"Too many people made it to the third stage of the exam, and we won't have time for that many matches during the main event. If you'll kindly take your places on the upper level, we'll display the names of the combatants."

"Oh, alright then. Oka, Boufuu, let's go." They slowly took their places at the very end of the railing, and Anko had the people in the control room reveal the display board. In a somewhat untraditional move, Tsunade and the examiners took their places along side the gennin on the upper level. She had decided that, if she was going to have to be at the exams, she was at least going to have a good view of the fighting.

The display scrolled through names at random until it landed on the first two participants. "Sabaku no Gaara, Yamatake Oka, please make your way to the arena floor." Both were in place in under a second. "Before we begin your match, there's one rule: you can do whatever you want, but the match won't end until one of you yields or is unfit to fight. Once that call is made, it's irreversible, and any attempt to continue the fight will result in immediate disqualification. Begin!"

Gaara just stood there, completely bored, arms crossed and staring straight ahead. Oka, on the other hand, looked like he couldn't wait to begin. He also looked about six feet tall, and extremely muscular, with dark brown hair and eyes, wearing a disturbingly tight brown gi.

"So, you're name's Gaara is it? You know, you act kind of like Ankoku… If I didn't know that you can't possibly be as good as him, I'd probably be a little intimidated." Gaara blinked slowly, but not as a reaction, and otherwise he was completely still. "Well, if you're not going to attack, I will!" Oka flipped through several seals before landing on rat and shouting "**Itami no Jutsu! (Pain Technique!)**" Gaara then did something that no one except the rock-nins expected: he fell to one knee and cried out in pain. Even most of the jounin went wide-eyed, wondering what the hell was happening. The only Konoha jounin who had ever seen the attack before was Kurenai, who was surprised that such a young child could have actually learned it. Gaara's scream didn't last long, but he did remain on one knee with a pained look, sand slowly pouring out of his gourd.

"What kind of technique is _that_?" Boufuu turned to Naruto, an excited look on his face.

"That's one of Oka's favorite genjutsu. Not the strongest, really, but by far the most fun for him. It tricks the brain into thinkin' that the entire body's in extremely intense pain, as though all the nerves are bein' attacked at once. Best of all, there's really no defense against it. He usually doesn't use it right off the bat, but I guess that guy's similarity to Ankoku struck a chord…"

"Pain…?" The thought of an unstoppable wave of pain put many of the genin ill at ease, and even a few of the jounin looked unhappy. Kurenai, however, knew that the technique had one major weakness, even if Gaara was hardly the type to be able to exploit it. Not only that, she also knew that the pain caused by the technique wasn't nearly as severe as Boufuu was making it sound.

"Yeah. I've only ever been hit with it once, and I can tell you it's not an experience I would willin'ly repeat. It's _indescribably_ terrible. That poor kid's probably gonna pass out if Oka doesn't stop soon. In fact… Oi, Oka! It's no fun to watch if you're gonna beat him that quick! He can't even do anythin'!" Oka looked up at him angrily.

"It's not my fault that he doesn't have any resistance! Someone this weak shouldn't even be taking the exam! Don't worry, you'll be down here soon enough--" Oka's head suddenly came into contact with a large hand made of sand, which knocked him into the wall and caused him to lose control of his genjutsu. Gaara stood back up, shook his head, and resumed his bored stance.

"Is that it?"

"Oh, so you've got a good move? I was beginning to worry that you weren't gonna be any fun at all… Well, try this then!" His hands flew through another set of seals, "**Chi Ishi! (Thousand stones!)**" Gaara saw a thousand fist-sized stones suddenly jump up and cling to his body, but they weren't really there. Although he felt significantly heavier, he really couldn't imagine an attack type that would have less of an effect on him. Oka put on a toothy grin, which looked odd with all of his missing teeth. "Let's see you dodge this while combating the weight of 1,000 stones!" He charged Gaara, who looked even more bored than usual, and tried to plant a roundhouse kick in Gaara's face.

Gaara's sand easily caught Oka's foot and proceeded to slam him into the ground before wrapping itself around him and holding him in the air. The Konoha genin that remembered the attack became anxious, but Temari and Kankurou knew better. Gaara had, after all, not killed a single person unnecessarily since his fight with Naruto. His sand quickly rearranged itself to cover only the elbows, knees, and hands, and Gaara held out his hand. As he clenched it shut, he said the name of his technique: "**Sabaku Sousou!**" The sand crushed every part of Oka that it was in contact with, dropping him helplessly on the ground. Watching from above, Ankoku found himself suddenly interested in his seeming double.

"Oh my, would you look at that Boufuu? He might just be a fun opponent after all."

"Heh, maybe for me, but he's got nothin' on you Ankoku. Still, that _is_ an interestin' technique… I'm surprised Oka would go down so quickly, considerin' his taijutsu skills. He shouldn' have been so careless."

"Yes, I suppose you're right…" /_I hope I get to fight him, though…_/

"Shousha: Sabaku no Gaara. Medics, get out here and help this guy so we can begin the next match." Gaara was back next to Temari and Kankurou in a swirl of sand, and the display board was again flashing through names, leaving everyone a chance to talk about the match. The medic-nins carried Oka out on a large stretcher, trying to stem the blood loss as they went. Of course, no one that knew about Gaara was even remotely surprised with his victory, but everyone else was impressed. When the board stopped, both of the combatants looked uncomfortable with the match-up, but for very different reasons. "Hyuuga Hinata, Kankurou, please make your way down here for the next match."

"You can take him, Hinata-chan!" She looked over at Naruto, surprised at the random vote of confidence, and was soon very red in the face. "Shino beat him, how hard can he be?" If Shino hadn't been so emotionless, he probably would have had a vein going in his temple, but that didn't happen. Hinata did have to suppress a laugh though, which Naruto took as a good sign.

Realistically, Kankurou thought he was probably going to lose. Even _two_ puppets aren't very useful against someone who can see and destroy chakra strings, and his close-combat skills were severely lacking. Assuming that she wasn't _completely_ without talent, he couldn't think of a way to win.

Realistically, Hinata thought she was probably going to lose. Even if Naruto had confidence in her, she remembered Kankurou's puppetry, and she didn't think that she stood a chance against it. Assuming that his technique hadn't been _completely_ lost in the six month span since the previous exam, she couldn't think of a way to win.

"Begin!" Hinata instantly jumped back and activated her byakugan, and Kankurou brought out his first puppet. As it turned out, that was his biggest mistake, as it allowed Hinata to come to a very important realization.

/_He controls the puppet with strings made of chakra? 'Things made from chakra will be destroyed by putting chakra into them…' I can win this!_/

"Oi, Hinata-chan! Hurry and beat him up, would ya?" Her confidence restored, Hinata gathered her strength and ran at Karasu. Dodging the knives shooting out of his mouth, which she had seen before his mouth had opened, she quickly cut the support strings to his head and shoulders before Kankurou was able to pull him away and reattach them.

Kankurou then unleashed both of his puppets on her, Kuroari going high and Karasu going low (which looked odd considering that Kuroari was far larger than Karasu). She decided not to chance being captured by Kuroari, instead charging straight for Karasu. It took her a moment to realize that she could easily tell which weapons he was planning to use based on the movements of his chakra strings, but she was still able to use that knowledge to dodge the knives in Karasu's wrists. Still, even though she was able to predict the attacks and disable them, fighting two opponents at once was no mean feat. As she moved to cut the strings attached to Karasu, Kuroari was suddenly thrust down at her, causing her to abandon her attack and roll out of the way. Her arm was scraped, but not by anything poisonous, and she got back up immediately.

The puppets began another dual assault, this time side by side, which was Kankurou's second big mistake. Hinata quickly realized that, if they're side by side, the puppets can't come to each other's aid as quickly. Seeing that Kankurou was expecting her to go after Karasu again, which was obvious considering the way he was preparing the trap on Karasu's side, she decided to try her luck with Kuroari. Actually, as she thought about it, Kuroari was the obvious choice anyway, given that he was bulkier and had fewer weapons.

Easily slipping behind Kuroari, Hinata quickly cut three of his five support strings before Karasu managed to come to his aid. She jumped over Karasu's head and cut the remaining strings on Kuroari, grabbed the disabled puppet, and jumped far enough away that Kankurou wouldn't be able to reattach any of his strings without her noticing.

Kankurou's third mistake was a lack of patience. If he had waited for Hinata to come to him, she would have brought Kuroari with her, but instead she used the giant puppet as a shield when Karasu charged her. The knives embedded themselves into Kuroari, connecting the two puppets, and the unexpected weight increase on his right hand caused Kankurou to fumble with Karasu, leaving Hinata an enormous opening to cut his remaining chakra strings. She quickly tossed both puppets outside of Kankurou's range before charging him. Given Kankurou's lack of ability in close combat, it wasn't very surprising when he didn't even manage to dodge one attack. Her jyuuken blast hit him square in the chest, causing his heart to stop for a moment, and he passed out from the pain. Genma walked over to the unconscious Kankurou, checked him out, and knew it was over.

"Shousha: Hyuuga Hinata."

"Way to go, Hinata-chan!" She knew in her mind that other people were cheering as well, but she couldn't hear anyone except Naruto. "I told you you could do it!" Unfortunately, getting all of that attention from Naruto caused her to blush so severely that the excessive blood in her head, combined with her fatigue and increased heart rate, caused her to faint. She was still to be allowed to participate in the final matches, but Kurenai had to take her to one of the beds to rest for a while.

"Come on, I'm next! I'm next! I just know I'm next!" Naruto was jumping up and down, repeating the same words over and over again while the display was choosing the names, but he nearly face-faulted when he saw the names it ended on. "I'm… not next…"

"Aburame Shino, Touketsu Kaen, please make your way down to the arena floor."

"Oh, so I get to fight one of the 'rookie nine?' It's not Naruto, but it's a start…" Kaen, dressed in an absurd looking white outfit with blue and red flames on it (especially absurd with his long, light blue hair), jumped down to the stage. Shino, dressed in his usual outfit, walked slowly down the stairs without a word. "Don't bore me, Shino…"

"Begin!"

Anko, curious at Kaen's mention of B-rank techniques, watched with rapt attention as he charged Shino and connected with a punch to the face. Shino didn't bother to try to dodge the punch, choosing instead to let his bugs flutter inconspicuously onto Kaen's fist. He quickly rose, completely unfazed by Kaen's attack.

"Oh, so you work with bugs, huh?" Shino was surprised that the kid had noticed the bugs going onto his hand, but didn't react visibly. "Should've recognized the name… Your clan's pretty famous, isn't it? My clan is famous too, but only because they're so despicably weak…" Behind Sakura and Shimaru, Aoshi bowed his head and grimaced. "Well, I'm afraid that these bugs won't work on me." He formed the bird seal, "**Bottou! (Immersion!)" **His arms and torso were suddenly covered in water. His newly formed prison of water drowned the bugs on him before disappearing into nothing, leaving his clothes as dry as before he had used the technique.

"You've killed my bugs…"

"That's what you get for sending them at me so carelessly… 'Play with fire' and whatnot. How about this time you take me more seriously? I don't know how I'm supposed to show my strength when you're still taking me lightly, and I find that _very_ irritating." Shino nodded, but otherwise didn't move. "Oh, do you want _me_ to come at _you_? That'll work, I guess, but how about I do it a little differently this time?" Quickly forming the ox, monkey, and tiger seals, he shouted "**Kaen! (Blaze!)**" and dashed at Shino.

Anko, from her position next to Tsunade, couldn't recognize the techniques Kaen was using at all. First he had encased parts of his body in water, then he not only created what looked like fiery swords around his arms, he also used the fire to propel himself forward. As far as she was aware, techniques like those weren't taught in Konoha…

Shino managed to jump out of the way when the fiery punch came his way, but the wave of heat that came off of it singed his jacket. Kaen didn't stop at one attack though, instead using the rotation from his first punch to throw a backhand at Shino with his other hand, extending the flames just enough to catch Shino's jacket on fire. Rather than discard the burning jacket, Shino jumped back and rolled along the ground to put out the small fire, then stood up calmly.

"You're still underestimating me, Shino… I can't bring out the good techniques until you get serious, so let's hurry it up, eh?"

In the upper level, Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing. During their team training, Kaen had never shown even one of these techniques. As she thought about it, she realized that he hadn't really used ninjutsu at all.

"Aoshi-sensei, what's with these techniques? I've never even heard of them before…"

"Well, you wouldn't have, considering that they haven't been in use for nearly a century. These are our family's old techniques, but they haven't been used because no one in our family has had the talent for them. As a jounin I'm expected to be able to use techniques like these, but I wasn't able to learn them for some reason…" His grimace became more severe, but then he took a sigh and adopted a more neutral expression. "Kaen, on the other hand, managed to figure out the techniques on his own, just by reading the old family scrolls that describe them. He's gotten quite a few of them down."

"A century…?"

"Yeah. Back when the techniques were still in use, our family was known for being able to master every type of elemental attack, and Konoha was very happy to have us join the village. Unfortunately, our family has been in something of a slump since then, so not many of us have even made chuunin. I made jounin, obviously, but only by specializing in taijutsu. He surprised us all by learning the techniques." He smiled warmly, but she could tell that it wasn't entirely genuine. "I couldn't be more proud of that accomplishment."

/_If I send more bugs at him, he'll kill them with water or fire. Attacking head on isn't an option either, as I'll catch on fire. I don't know how much chakra he has, so tiring him out is an unreliable option, and I don't know of any ninjutsu that would be useful in this situation. He's faster than I am, and that technique was able to increase his speed, so taijutsu is essentially useless as well. Even using my bugs as a sacrifice to distract him, I can only guarantee one good hit, which doesn't do me much good if I don't know how well he'll take it. I could create a bunshin with my bugs, but there's no way to hide it from him in this environment. Considering that I have almost no knowledge of genjutsu, I appear to be out of options…_/

"Are you sure you don't want to get serious? I'm going to get serious soon whether you're ready or not, so it's in your best interest to--"

"I give up." Many mouths went slack-jawed, but Hinata and Kiba knew that if Shino was giving up, there was no logical way for him to have won.

"You… give up? That's no good! I didn't get to use almost any techniques! You could have at least waited until I used one of my better techniques!"

"Shousha: Touketsu Kaen. Please clear the stage for the next match."

"Killjoys…" Kaen slowly made his way back to his father, who couldn't have looked prouder of his son, and the display board once again started choosing names. Anko had to admit that she was impressed with his techniques, given that he was a genin, but she really didn't think they were deserving of his cocky attitude. She could easily think of several counters for them, even if they would be difficult for someone like Shino to pull off. Deciding that he probably had better techniques in reserve, she turned her attention to the display board.

"Naruto-kun, I'm sorry, but they will not choose you next. I, Rock Lee, shall be the next to enter the ring!"

"What! Why should you get to go next?"

"Because I called it first."

"Kuso…" Everyone except the rock-nins sweat-dropped at the thought that Naruto and Lee actually considered it to be some kind of competition.

"So Ankoku, what did you think of that boy's techniques? From the sound of things, we barely saw the tip of the iceberg. No pun intended…"

"I'm unsure Boufuu. He certainly seems stronger than most of the others here, but he also seemed unpolished."

"Heh, you're one to talk. Granted, your skills are deadly, but your taijutsu's pathetic."

"True, but I don't rely on taijutsu the way he does. If he really wants to become a chuunin, he's going to need to work on that. At least, he will if he wants to become a chuunin while I'm taking the exam."

"Anyone caught your interest yet?"

"Just the boy with the sand… I was interested in that little blond boy until he started shouting like an idiot, but…"

"Yeah, I understand what you mean. Strong people don't strive so hard to commend the weak, eh? Well, if anyone here is strong we'll find out soon enough." The board stopped right as he finished his sentence, almost as though he had triggered it.

"Yatta! Time to show off my skills!"

"What! That's my line! As long as I'm facing you, there's no way I can lose!"

"Dream on Dog-boy! My skills are gonna blow you away!"

"Inuzuka Kiba, Yamanaka Ino, shut the hell up and get down here." He smirked at their reaction to his order, causing the senbon in his mouth to snap upward. They both jumped down and stood casually, trying to psyche each other out, but it didn't work very well for either of them. "Begin!"

"Akamaru, you stay out of this. Considering that it's just her, it wouldn't be right for us to go all out."

"What's that supposed to mean, Dog-boy? I can take you both on with just one technique!"

"Let's just see you try it Ino! **Tsuuga!**" Kiba began rotating before shooting at Ino. To his great surprise, however, she simply held out her hands, making a rectangle with her thumbs and forefingers.

"**Shinranshin no Jutsu! (Body Traitor Technique!)**" Kiba suddenly stopped mid-spin and landed on the ground, turned around, and charged Akamaru. After easily taking down his very confused dog, he proceeded to remove his hitai-ate and smash his head against the wall repeatedly until he gave himself a concussion and fell to the ground unconscious. "Ha, I knew that new technique daddy taught me would kick ass!" She had, of course, spent several days building enough annoyance in her father that he was willing to teach her the technique just to shut her up. With Naruto getting so much stronger, and the fact that using shintenshin no jutsu on him was supposed to be dangerous, it had seemed logical to have a backup. Had she told her father that reason in the first place, he would have been much quicker to teach it to her.

"Shousha: Yamanaka Ino." She jumped up and down for a few moments, shouting in triumph, before calming down enough to return to the others.

"What about _her_ Ankoku? That technique was definitely effective…"

"Yes, but it wouldn't be against me. She'll probably lose in the first round of the actual exam."

"Yeah, but she could still be interestin' for a while…"

"…Maybe."

The display again began its cycle through the names, drawing everyone's attention. "I'm _so_ next!"

"No, Naruto-kun, I will be next! I can feel it in my young blood, the call of battle!"

"But I called it this time!"

"Yes, but if you'll recall, it didn't respond to my dibs. There's no reason that your dibs would outrank mine, so--"

"Yes there is! I'm gonna be the next Hokage, my dibs totally outranks your dibs!"

"That doesn't take effect until you actually _become_ Hokage, Naruto-kun."

"…Chikushou…" Everyone sweat-dropped again at hearing their childish argument, but when the names were picked all attention returned to the board.

"Ah, I see that I finally have a chance at entertainment."

"Go easy on him, Ankoku. There's really no point in killin' so soon."

"Don't worry about that, Boufuu. Unlike you, I have no intention of killing anyone in this part of the contest. They're far too weak for that."

"Tsuchi no Ankoku, Akimichi Chouji, please come down to the stage." After warily eyeing Ankoku, and remembering what little of the boy's conversations he had overheard, Chouji's decision was a simple one: there was no way in hell he was going to fight that guy. Asuma, guessing at Chouji's decision, decided to sweeten the pot.

"You know Chouji, if you win… I wouldn't mind getting you some all-you-can-eat BBQ when this is over." Chouji looked unconvinced, but Asuma had a backup plan. "How about I get you BBQ every day for the next week?" /_Assuming that I can scrape the money together…_/ Weighing his options, Chouji was soon able to choose the right path.

"B-B-Q! Yoshi, let's get it started!" He mindlessly jumped into the arena, leaving those around him to shake their heads at his food obsession. Ankoku, who had used the stairs, was featuring the usual bored expression and crossed arms. If it wasn't for his black hair, black clothes, and black eyes, he really would have looked _exactly_ like Gaara (except for the forehead kanji and gourd, obviously).

"Alright, let's get this charade over with. Please be fun, Akimichi Chouji."

"Begin!"

"**Baika no Jutsu!**" Chouji swelled to several times his normal size, tucked his arms and legs into himself, and rolled towards Ankoku like a giant bowling ball. Ankoku didn't move a muscle, yet the floor reformed itself into a wall of cement in front of him, easily halting Chouji's progress. Chouji, not paying enough attention, rolled into said wall and rebounded before coming to a stop and returning to his normal size. Those who had seen his attack before were surprised that the wall hadn't even been dented, and that he appeared to have hurt himself.

"You aren't _that_ weak are you? I was hoping to have a _little_ fun today… Well, if that's really the best you can do… **Ninpou: Kuragari! (Ninja Arts: Darkness!)**" He didn't make any hand seals, but it soon became clear that he didn't need to when Chouji wandered around with his arms outstretched, not even noticing when he ran into solid objects. A piece of the floor then broke itself off and launched into the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious.

"Shousha: Tsuchi no Ankoku."

"Was he really _that_ borin' Ankoku? You only gave him one try…"

"Yeah, these Konoha ninja are turning out to be weaker than I expected. We fought people stronger than this in the forest… Maybe you'll be luckier, though."

"I hope so, this is drivin' me crazy. Well, get on up here so they can start the next match."

"Yeah." None of the Konoha genin knew which was worse: that he was calling them weak, or that he seemed to have an ability similar to Gaara's. They all decided it was probably the latter, even if they didn't want to fully admit it, and found that they were just glad that they hadn't been fighting him instead of Chouji.

"Naruto-kun, you can have this fight; I don't want it." Naruto thought back to the previous chuunin exam before getting red in the face.

"No way, you don't get to do that! You can have this match, I want to be last!"

"Don't steal my philosophy! I'm the one who decided that, if you want to hit the pole, you shouldn't aim for it!"

"Yeah, but I'm the one who used it first this time!" Everyone except for Naruto, Lee, and Gai quickly realized that that wasn't even true, but none of them wanted to get sucked into the conversation.

"…Kuso…" Seeing Lee's spirits down, Gai took his chance to interrupt.

"Lee, you must not exclude the possibility that your trick will be remembered, in which case it will backfire on Naruto and work in your favor!" He struck his nice-guy pose, embarrassing Tenten and Neji to no end.

"You're right! Thank you Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"If you two don't shut the hell up," Sakura raised her fist angrily, "I'll shut you up!" Silence quickly fell, neither of them forgetting for even a moment that she was Tsunade's apprentice. When the board finally displayed the names of the chosen fighters, however, Lee jumped in the air and let out a shout of joy.

"Yatta! It worked Gai-sensei! I finally get to fight!"

"Good work Lee!"

"Rock Lee, Chiri Boufuu, please come down to the stage now."

"Ankoku, should I test this guy first or go all out right away?"

"Despite your confidence, you really aren't very strong… You should go all out."

"That was cold, Ankoku…" Boufuu lowered his head in false sorrow, then jumped down and took his place across from Lee. "Try and be challengin' okay? It's been quite a while since anyone other than Ankoku and Oka gave me a hard time…"

"Boufuu, don't underestimate him. I get the feeling that, even though he looks like a complete idiot in that ridiculous spandex, he's hiding something."

"Heh, you worry too much Ankoku! With my techniques, this guy's gonna go down easy!"

"Begin!"

Lee wasted no time in charging Boufuu, who barely managed to dodge before jumping back several feet and forming the dog seal. "**Kyuu! (Gather!)**" The effect of his technique was far from hidden, as dust gathered from all around the room and attached itself in dense chunks to Lee, taking on extremely odd shapes. "That's highly condensed dust that's stuck to you. Probably weighs about a hundred pounds, and it'll screw up your aerodynamics enough that you'll be way slower than usual! It's just too bad we're indoors, or there'd be _way_ more…" Lee, Gai, and Naruto couldn't help but smirk, but Lee didn't bother to say anything. Ankoku, noticing the simultaneous smirking, allowed his curiosity to get the better of him.

"You, blond boy, why are all of you so happy all of a sudden? Does he have a counter for this technique?"

"A counter…? No, I wouldn't call it a counter, but this attack won't really affect him."

"How is that?"

"Well, considering the amount of weight Fuzzy-brows was already wearing, a hundred pounds is nothing!" Ankoku cracked a wide smile at that, and even uncrossed his arms to lean on the railing.

"Really? Well, I was right about him after all, wasn't I? Boufuu, you'd better be careful! It seems that you're wasting your efforts on that one."

"Are you sure? Naw, you must be wrong Ankoku, no one ever deals with the speed difference well. I'll be perfectly--" Lee's fist smashing into his face stopped Boufuu's arrogant rambling, and it was quickly followed by a roundhouse to the ribs and a side-kick to the chest. Boufuu, caught completely off guard, was thrown into the opposite wall before crumpling in a heap on the floor. The dust fell off of Lee almost immediately, and Boufuu was coughing up a surprising amount of blood. After several minutes went by without him moving at all, Genma checked him out.

"Wow, he really can't take a punch… Shousha: Rock Lee." Ankoku looked like he had nearly been sliced in half; never in a million years would he have believed that Boufuu would have gone down _that_ quickly. The idiot didn't even get a chance to use a second attack! While it was true that Boufuu wasn't elite by any means, it was also true that he had the second best mission record of all Iwa genin. His taijutsu and ninjutsu skills were both at chuunin level, and his analytical skills were normally spot-on. For him to have messed up that badly, Lee had to have been quite something… Mentally noting to keep an eye on Lee, Ankoku turned to the Konoha genin.

"I guess your friend is stronger than we gave him credit for. Don't worry though, I won't make the same mistakes." Returning to his normal, bored look, he turned to the display and awaited the names of the next combatants. When Lee returned he was congratulated thoroughly by Gai, berated by Naruto for "not beating him faster," and told to "shut the hell up" by Sakura and Ino after a few rounds of name exchanging with Gai. In other words: business as usual.

When the names where finally chosen for the next match, there were four extremely anxious genin: Tenten, Neji, Temari, and Shimaru. Three of them were nervous because they were left with a fifty percent chance of fighting Naruto, a fight that they didn't want to even _imagine_ after hearing about his techniques, and one of them was nervous because her opponent's teacher was also her idol, the strongest kunoichi to ever grace Konoha.

"Haruno Sakura, Tenten, please… ah hell, you know what to do." Although they couldn't help but feel that Genma was getting lazy, they both jumped over the railing and got ready. In reality, he was just trying to keep things interesting. "Begin…"

Tsunade shifted slightly, but that was the only indication she gave that she was even paying attention. Shizune knew that that was Tsunade's way of showing confidence in Sakura, but it still seemed a little rude to her.

Tenten, unsure of how much Tsunade had actually taught Sakura, decided to test her first. Somewhat nervous, she took out two kunai and threw them in Sakura's direction. What surprised her wasn't that Sakura dodged them, it was that Sakura dodged them before they left her hand. Luckily for Tenten, Sakura decided to play it safe by not attacking right away. Not wanting to resort to anything _too_ major at the beginning of the fight, Tenten settled for a kunai/shuriken assault. As expected, Sakura dodged the first few kunai before they even left Tenten's hands, never taking her eyes off of her opponent.

Seeing that she had the setup she wanted, Tenten quickly released a line of shuriken with one hand, and three kunai from the other. Sakura had yet to land, meaning that she was literally falling into a trap. Tenten's attacks were centered around Sakura's landing point in such a way that escape seemed impossible, with the shuriken blocking land-based escape paths and the kunai blocking aerial escapes. It was obvious that she wanted Sakura to dodge by throwing herself on the ground, as that would leave her vulnerable for a few moments, but Sakura had another idea entirely.

The moment she landed, Sakura used the skill that Tsunade had taught her and punched the floor in such a way that one of the tiles flipped up onto its side. As soon as she heard the shuriken hitting it she pushed it back down to get a clear view of Tenten's movements again, which was definitely a good thing considering that several kunai with explosive notes were already headed her way. Quickly rolling under them, she decided it was time to begin her attack. Tenten, seeing Sakura charging directly at her, decided that it would be stupid to continue to hold back.

On the upper level, Lee was very conflicted. While it was true that he had an undying youthful love for his beloved Sakura, the fact remained that Tenten was his teammate. He wanted to cheer them both on, but he didn't want to imply that he wanted either one of them to lose, meaning that he was left with no other choice than to be silent. Naruto, having no conflict whatsoever, was easily loud enough for the both of them. "Come on Sakura-chan! You're not gonna lose to _her_, are you?" Sakura couldn't help but grin at how clueless he was, but she kept her attention on Tenten's actions.

Confident in her ability to win, Tenten pulled out a scroll and began to summon weapons from it, hurling them at Sakura as quickly as she could. Although Sakura had no trouble at all in dodging the barrage, it did hamper her advancement towards Tenten, which she knew was a slight problem given that she was more of a close-range fighter. Fortunately there was one thing that she knew she could count on: Tenten had a finite amount of weapons. Once Tenten discarded her scroll, Sakura again charged her. A big smirk on her face, Tenten pulled her hands up into what she hoped was a convincing looking defensive stance, tugging on the wires that were attached to the weapons she had thrown. Luck again sided with Sakura as the light glinted off of one of the wires just in time for her to notice it and look around.

The sight of so many weapons closing in on her from all directions was not a comforting one, as she knew there was no way to dodge effectively with Tenten controlling the weapons via the wires. Still, she managed to keep her wits about her and jumped over the set of wires on her right. With all of the weapons again coming from one direction, she waited until just the right moment before punching up another floor tile. Tenten, who had been expecting that tactic to make its return, was able to guide half of the weapons around the tile and aim them directly at Sakura. Had she known that that was exactly what Sakura was expecting, she would have pulled them back instead, but the mistake was already made by the time she realized that it was a mistake.

Sakura jumped over the floor tile before any of the weapons made it to her and made a mad dash towards the relatively-defenseless Tenten, who abandoned her wires in favor of jumping back out of the way. Finally, after all of that dodging, Sakura had Tenten exactly where she wanted her. Immediately preceding Tenten's landing, Sakura punched the floor hard enough that she actually formed a large crack. Landing on said crack, Tenten struggled to keep her balance, giving Sakura more than enough time to land a punch. She held back enough that she only broke three ribs, but Tenten didn't get up again.

"Shousha: Haruno Sakura."

"Yatta! Way to go, Sakura-chan!"

The upper level suddenly seemed very empty, with seven of the original eighteen ninja in the medic ward, but that's not why the remaining genin were worried. Genma, on the other hand, was glad to finally see a fight that was not only interesting, but involved less dialog than action. As the display board began the selection process, Neji, Shimaru, and Temari all found themselves crossing their fingers, hoping not to be Naruto's opponent. Neji actually thought he stood a chance against Naruto, but wanted to save that confrontation for the finals. When the fighters were chosen, all eyes (except for Ankoku's, the rock jounin's, Naruto's, and Gaara's) went to Temari, some pity evident in them. Neji and Shimaru let out loud sighs of relief before climbing down to fight. Shimaru looked somewhat pathetic standing across from Neji, but that was probably because he was a good four inches shorter and looked like a total momma's boy. He had short brown hair not unlike Kankurou's, and was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, all bright blue.

"Neji-san, could I ask you for a favor?"

"A… favor? We're about to fight!"

"Yeah, but the favor is something you could do for me _during_ the fight. You're a Hyuuga, you see, and I'm not really all that strong… Since you're gonna win anyway, could you take it a little easy on me?"

"You came all this way just to ask me to go easy on you? Why don't you just give up?"

"I can't do that, 'cause that would disappoint my parents. They're both jounin, and they really want me to do well, so it would hurt them if I just dropped out. At the same time, _I_ don't want to be hurt by _you_, so…"

"You put that much stock in what your parents think?"

"Of course! My parents are the most important people in the world to me, and I _never_ want to see them hurt! I'd die before I'd let that happen, but I'm asking you to go easy on me because--"

"Alright."

"You mean it?"

"I could never live with myself if I hurt someone like _you_ too badly." /_Not after that fight with Naruto, anyway…_/ "But you'd better not be trying to trick me, or you'll regret it." Shimaru raised his hands defensively.

"No, no! Really, just about the only thing I've got going for me is genjutsu, and doujutsu like the byakugan are supposed to be able to see through genjutsu, so…"

"If you two are done _chatting_, I'd like to get on with your match." Genma snapped his senbon down angrily. "Begin!"

"Alright Shimaru-san, at least try something before I beat you."

"Yeah, sure…" He formed an ox seal, "**Gentei! (Limit!)**" The moment the attack hit, Neji fell to one knee. "Neji-san? I thought your byakugan was supposed to see through genjutsu…?"

"What did you do to me? Every muscle in my body feels weaker…"

"It's just a basic genjutsu that adds to the limits on your muscles. You've heard of the hachimon, right?" Neji nodded, remembering Lee opening them during the previous exam. "Normally, when all of your gates are closed, you can only use twenty percent of your actual muscle strength. Your brain limits the amount of strength you use to lessen the damage you do to your muscles. With this genjutsu I created a synthetic gate in the brain, 'genteimon,' which drops that figure to five percent."

"You know such a high-level genjutsu and you asked me to go easy on you?"

"But the byakugan--"

"The byakugan sees through genjutsu _outside_ the body! I can't see things inside my own brain!"

"Really?" Shimaru looked ecstatic, causing Neji a surge of anger. "In that case, maybe you shouldn't hold back on me…" He grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, excited that he had a technique that could bypass the Hyuuga defense. "Let's start over! I'll lift the genjutsu and we'll go for real, okay?"

"Sure." /_Like I have a choice…_/ Shimaru happily lifted the genjutsu before resuming a defensive stance, much more confident than he had been previously. "Don't expect this to be easy, though."

"Of course not! I'll probably go down if you even hit me once! I'm just happy that I'm not letting mom and dad down." Shimaru's smile was easily the largest and warmest that anyone in the room had ever seen, making it obvious that he was completely serious. "When I tell them that my first original genjutsu worked on a Hyuuga… they'll be so happy! You have no idea!"

/_I wouldn't, as my parents are _dead_…_/ "Here I come, get ready."

"Yoshi!" Neji charged from thirty feet away while Shimaru formed the monkey, rat, and ox seals. "**Kokyuu Genkai! (Breath Limit!)**" Neji stopped fifteen feet short of Shimaru and fell to his knee again, this time panting like a dog that's gone a day or two without water.

"What… did you… do to… me now?" /_Damn it, I can barely breath enough to stay conscious! He's got moves like this and he lacks confidence? Who does he think he is, Hinata-sama?_/ Shimaru again scratched the back of his head in a very Naruto-like gesture.

"I paralyzed one of your lungs!"

"You… have a… ninjutsu like…"

"No, no, this is genjutsu, not ninjutsu!"

"How…"

"Don't you know how genjutsu work? A genjutsu is a chakra disruption in the opponent's brain that causes them to perceive reality incorrectly by manipulating the flow of electricity and chakra. I just made your brain fail to recognize one of your lungs for what it is, which left it paralyzed and you out of breath! It's probably my best technique, since it renders my opponent practically useless… If I'd known it worked on Hyuuga, I never would have asked you to go easy on me."

In the upper level, Kurenai was _very_ impressed. Kakashi, wondering just how impressive Shimaru's techniques actually were, leaned over to her. "What do you think? He said it was 'original,' have you ever seen this?"

"No… I've never even _heard_ of genjutsu creating artificial additions to the hachimon! This kid must be one _hell_ of a genius…"

"Actually, Aoshi seemed a lot less confident in Shimaru than Kaen."

"Yeah, but Kaen's his kid, isn't he? Parents _have_ to be like that, it's like a law or something. For a kid that young to have developed lower level genjutsu…"

"'Lower level?' I thought you were impressed by it."

"That's not what I mean by lower level, Kakashi. You're a jounin and you don't know things like that?"

"I never really specialized in genjutsu, so I never bothered to look up the terminology or anything."

"Ugh… Well, to put it simply, higher level genjutsu affect the conscious mind, and lower level genjutsu affect everything that the brain deals with subconsciously. Because the illusion isn't affecting anything that he's consciously aware of, Neji's byakugan is completely useless against it. There's a problem with lower level genjutsu though."

"What's that?"

"Almost no one is intelligent enough to actually use them."

"This kid's really _that_ impressive?"

"Yes. I've never actually known anyone who could use them before, and lower level genjutsu users are extremely rare. We're talking one every few generations, at the most. When they _have_ shown up in the past, they've always been among the strongest fighters of their times."

"You think he'll win?"

"I don't know; it really depends on how he utilizes everything. If Neji figures out how to cancel the techniques, Shimaru's finished."

"Yeah… What rank do you think those techniques are?"

"Kakashi, you do realize that the ranking process is extremely complex for genjutsu, right?"

"Be honest…"

"…A- or S-rank, probably."

"**Gentei!**" Neji, who had already been having trouble breathing, collapsed completely on the floor, sure that he was going to pass out. "I've always wondered if these techniques would work well together… I probably still won't beat you, but at least I can throw in my ace in the hole!" He quickly formed the dragon, bird, and ox seals, "**Ninpou: Ikuji wo Korosu! (Ninja Arts: Kill Self-Confidence!)**" There were some gasps at the name (including one from Kurenai, who couldn't imagine a genjutsu powerful enough to change a person's _self_-perception), but he ignored them.

Neji, barely able to move at all, curled himself into a ball and started sobbing. It was a terrifying sight, and one that left Shimaru looking like some kind of sadistic freak. All of Neji's thoughts were suddenly about his own inabilities, weaknesses, problems, and failures. He was completely without happy thoughts, and was even beginning to doubt that he was capable of being happy.

"Aw crap, I didn't think it would be _that_ effective…" /_Great, just great. The first time I use the technique, and I already can't stand the effect it's having._/ "I can't bring myself to fight you if you're gonna be like that. **Kai!**" After a few coughs and some shuddering, Neji shakily got to his feet.

"Why'd you release it? You almost beat me."

"Yeah, but it didn't _feel_ right…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"My parents didn't raise me to get my kicks from watching people cower in fear, completely unable to resist me. If I won that way, they wouldn't be proud at all… I can't really beat you any other way though, so I give up. You win!"

"Wait, what?" Shimaru's smile returned, giving most of the people in the room a warm tickling feeling in their spines.

"Think of it this way: the only tactic I have that will work is the one I'm forbidden to use, so I lose by default! My parents won't be disappointed by that, they'll just be glad that I'm not a monster that would actually take advantage of that situation. I'll just have to figure out some other techniques by the next chuunin exam, and _then_ they can be proud of me…" Genma looked about ready to vomit at the kid's sickeningly nice personality. He really couldn't imagine a jounin being proud of a child that wouldn't be willing to take advantage of that situation, and he didn't want to try.

"Shousha: Hyuuga Neji. That leaves only two genin: Temari and Uzumaki Naruto, get down here."

Ankoku found that he was extremely disappointed with Shimaru's decision, as it meant that he wouldn't get a chance to fight the genjutsu master, but he tried to look as bored as usual. Of all of the fighters that he had watched, Shimaru had been the most interesting by far.

Because Neji's muscles weren't back to normal yet, Shimaru helped him up the stairs, which was both embarrassing and appreciated. Back on the upper level, everyone was staring at Temari, who was seriously considering giving up. From what she had been told of Naruto's techniques they were all extremely deadly, not to mention that he had defeated Gaara's perfect form _without_ them after the last chuunin exam. The idea of fighting someone stronger than Gaara, with six additional months of training and several extremely powerful techniques, was not one that she wanted to contemplate. Naruto, already on the arena floor, was growing impatient.

"Temari-chan! Hurry up!"

"Temari, er, nee-san…" Gaara seemed to have difficulty describing anyone as being a family member, which was understandable given his past. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Temari-nee-san, go ahead and fight him."

"Gaara, are you ins—I have no chance against him!" /_Oh yeah, great save…_/

"I would appreciate it if you fought him. It could be a… favor… to me."

/_Well crap. 'Damned if you do, damned if you don't,' eh? …That Naruto guy probably won't kill me, and Gaara will probably be pretty pissed off if I refuse the first favor he's ever asked of me… Chikushou__…_/ She jumped down into the ring, an action she regretted almost immediately.

"About time, Temari-chan! I was beginning to think--"

"Begin!" /_Why do these kids talk so damn much? I remember a day when fights were all about the fighting. Good times…_/

"Just so you know, Naruto, I'm expecting you to go easy on me. Anyone who can beat Gaara should have no problem with me, not to mention all of your new attacks I've heard about, so I'm not really sure why you even _want_ to fight me."

"It isn't obvious?" She shook her head slowly, trying to think of what he could mean. "Think about the last exam for a second, okay Temari-chan?"

"The last exam…?"

"Yeah!" She thought about it, but shook her head when she couldn't figure it out. "Even though it was cancelled, most of the fights happened in one way or another… I beat Neji, Gaara beat Sasuke, Shino beat Kankurou, and you beat Shikamaru. After that I beat Gaara, and Shino was hurt too badly from fighting Kankurou to have fought you. The only match left undecided was the final match, which would have been us!"

"You… really think that way?" /_What a freak…_/

"Of course! Don't you remember me saying that I would win? I don't go back on my words! As far as I'm concerned, I'm about to do it by beating you!"

"But if I give up, you still win…"

"Yeah, but it's not the same. You wouldn't have given up six months ago, would you?" She smirked, realizing that he was completely wrong. After seeing him beat Gaara, she wouldn't have even considered fighting him. Still, she knew it was important to him, and because he was having such a positive effect on Gaara she shook her head. "So, let's finish what we started!"

Temari opened her fan to the third dot, not wanting to bother with undue arrogance. "Alright, but I won't hold back! **Ninpou: Kamaitachi!**" It was only _after_ using the technique that she realized that the rasengan, from what she had heard about it, sounded like a wind based technique. She was somewhat frightened that he was going to seriously hurt her, but she knew there was no way to stop her attack.

A wide grin on his face, Naruto prepared his chikara no sakebi, unleashing it right as her winds were about to hit him. He was very curious to see how effective it would be against her wind attacks, remembering that he was able to feel them even in the stands. The moment Naruto used his technique, Kakashi, Gai, Tsunade, Lee, Ino, Sakura, and Neji threw themselves onto the floor. Anko finally learned that Tsunade hadn't been exaggerating the power of the attack when she was blown backwards three feet into a wall, even though she was on a platform more than ten feet above him. With nowhere to go, as he was using the technique inside, the air currents traveled around the room in a sort of extremely weak hurricane for a few minutes before subsiding. Temari, Gaara, Shimaru, Kaen, Ankoku, Kurenai, Asuma, Anko, Shizune, Aoshi, the rock jounin, and Genma all slowly peeled off the walls, landing flat on their faces and leaving large dents behind them.

"Whoops… I guess I should have toned it down a bit more." The large number of dents in the walls made him cringe, as he just _knew_ that Anko was going to make him fix them all. "Uh, Senbon-guy… I think she's out…" Looking around, he realized that more than half of the people in the room were unconscious, including Gaara (whose sand hadn't reacted quickly enough to the unexpected attack). "Oh… you are too. Baa-chan, is there some way we can declare me the winner without waiting for him to wake up?"

Tsunade warily got up, unsure of whether or not it was really safe to do so. "I suppose that Sakura could make sure she's really unconscious…" Sakura hopped down, checked Temari for a second, and nodded. "Alright… Shousha: Uzumaki Naruto. Oh, and in the future, try _not_ resorting to A-rank techniques at the slightest provocation."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved a dismissive hand, "I'll think about it." She pinched the bridge of her nose, making a mental list of the reasons _not_ to jump down and punch his face in. It was a surprisingly short list.

"Of course, we still have to wait for everyone to wake up before we can continue…"

* * *

"Tsunade-shishou… it's been an hour…" As Tsunade's apprentice, Sakura had been elected as the official representative for those who hadn't been hit by Naruto's attack. If the sannin was going to listen to anyone, it was going to be Sakura. "Don't you think that we should… go ahead with the people that have already woken up?"

"Sakura, we should at least wait until everyone who won a match wakes up… They have to draw their numbers, after all."

"Couldn't you just assign them randomly or something? This is getting really boring…"

"It might be boring, but we're still going to wait. Didn't I at least teach you some patience? If you really can't wait, you should at least try using the skills I taught you to speed their recovery…"

"Oh! Good idea, Tsunade-shishou!" Tsunade couldn't help but feel that she had taken on a complete idiot as an apprentice.

"You… didn't even consider it?"

"Uh… I was… I'd better get going!" /_Kuso… She'd better not stop teaching me because I'm a moron…_/ Sakura jumped away and went to help Gaara, leaving Tsunade holding the bridge of her nose again. Of course, as Sakura soon found out, there was a very good reason that Tsunade hadn't bothered with the same course of action: there was no real damage done. The victims were unconscious, but it was nothing that could be cured by medical techniques. Although it seemed strange that they would stay out for so long, she knew there was nothing either of them could really do.

"Naruto! This is all your fault! Why'd you have to go and use a powerful technique like that indoors?"

"Ino-chan! It's not like I didn't hold back!"

"You call _that_ holding back? It was even worse than when you used it outside!"

"But that was just because it had nowhere to go…"

"If you knew that was going to be a factor, you should have held back more! Chikushou, why'd you have to get cool techniques? An idiot like you… you're just gonna end up hurting all your allies." Naruto paused for a moment, looking almost out of breath.

"You… really think that…?"

"Of course! Just look around you! Even some of the jounin got knocked out! You just wildly throw your techniques out and hope that no one you care about gets hurt! Does 'restraint' even _have_ a meaning to you?"

Naruto didn't respond; he was far too busy thinking about what she had just said. /_Hurting my allies… The Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village, the one that protects it. If I hurt everyone in it… Besides, what if I hurt Sasuke? I've been preparing so much for Orochimaru that I haven't really thought about fighting Sasuke, but…_/

As Naruto sulked, people gradually began to recover from his attack. Gaara and Ankoku awoke at almost exactly the same moment, moving into the same stance at the same time. Even they found the similarity to be creepy, but neither of them showed it. The last to get up was Genma, who slowly returned to his usual spot and put a fresh senbon in his mouth before speaking.

"Alright, everyone that won a match had better get down here quick, or that blond idiot's gonna knock us all out again…" No one found his joke very amusing, but they all made their way down regardless. Ibiki and Anko stood on either side of him, Ibiki holding a small box. "Everybody draw a number from Ibiki's box, then tell me what number you drew."

They all drew numbers, reported them to Genma, and mentally calculated their places. Of course, those mental calculations were completely unnecessary, as Genma showed them the match list anyway. The matches for the first round were: Gaara vs. Ankoku, Neji vs. Lee, Hinata vs. Ino, and Sakura vs. the winner of the match between Kaen and Naruto. Kaen, Ankoku, and Lee looked very happy about their match-ups, but everyone else looked either disappointed or uneasy. Sakura, in particular, was very unhappy with the thought of fighting either Naruto or Kaen in the first round. She honestly didn't think that Kaen stood a chance against Naruto's techniques, but she wasn't exactly eager to fight him if he won. Of course, everyone was left slightly on edge by Naruto's attack, but they tried not to show it. Even Ankoku was beginning to be interested in him again.

"The main matches will take place one month from now in the--"

"A month? Why aren't we having them now?"

"Because we need time to announce who's going to participate. Daimyo from every country come to watch this, and we need to give them some time to get here." Genma launched into the explanation about the chuunin exam being like a war between the countries, which most of the veterans found much less interesting the second time. Tsunade was glad not to have to give it herself, as she had always thought it to be a stupid idea considering that the people taking the exam weren't even the elite of the villages.

When he finished his explanation he didn't really have anything left to say, so the room went silent. It took a few moments for Tsunade to realize that all eyes were on her. "What are you all waiting for? Go train or something!"

"What, that's it?"

"What else are you expecting?"

"I don't know. It just seemed rather abrupt…"

"Not everything has a fancy ending. You should really know that by now." Kaen shrugged and walked out of the tower, closely followed by all of the examinees except for Naruto. Said genin was still struggling with what Ino had said to him, and hadn't even listened to Genma's speech. He couldn't help but think that she had been right about his techniques, and about his being too stupid to use them. Seeing that something was troubling him, Anko decided to be nice and get his mind off of it.

"Naruto, look what you did to my tower! I hope you realize you're gonna be the one to fix it!"

* * *

Luckily for Naruto, Anko provided cement for the repairs. He chose that time to tell her that he hadn't actually repaired the prior damage, opting instead to have some kage bunshin use henge to cover the footprints during the prelims. Surprisingly, she wasn't angry, but she did watch him to make sure that he actually did the work. She didn't really care about the tower as much as she let on, but it was fun to give him a hard time about it. Just for the sake of being mean, she made him do the repairs without kage bunshin. It would have been much funnier for her if he had at least taken his weights off, though.

"Naruto, you're taking way too long. Just take off the damn weights!"

"No! I already told you, they're important for my training!"

"You don't need to train twenty-four hours a day!"

"Yes I do! I wish you people would stop telling me not to train so much! How else am I supposed to get strong enough to get Sasuke back?"

"Wait, what? I thought you were training to become Hokage."

"That comes later. First I have to kill that Orochimaru bastard and bring Sasuke back."

"_You_ want to beat Orochimaru? I hope you realize that he's so strong that he makes even _me_ look like a completely inept moron." Naruto ignored her, choosing instead to focus on getting concrete to settle rather than drip from the ceiling. "You're… you're _serious_, aren't you?"

"Of course I'm serious! How many times do I have to tell you that I don't go back on my words? I _will_ bring Sasuke back here, I _will_ kill Orochimaru, and I _will_ become Hokage!"

"You're…" She had to consider it for a moment. Was he really an idiot for saying that? While it certainly seemed true on the surface, and his ninja talents hadn't really had any incredible amount of promise at first, she had to admit that he was always surprising everyone. No matter what he did, people ended up underestimating him, which only seemed to motivate him more. "You're… an interesting guy, Naruto."

"I get that a lot." He grinned at the fact that he had actually managed to get the cement to stay in place long enough to settle, leaving only five more dents in the ceiling for him to deal with before moving on to the walls.

"Do you remember what I said the other day?"

"What other day?"

"When you asked me to train you, stupid. I told you that 'maybe if I find you interesting enough I'll help you afterward.' Technically, my part of the exam is over, and I can help whoever I want…" Naruto froze in place, not sure if it was some kind of cruel joke.

"Are you saying that you--"

"For the moment, at least, you certainly _seem_ interesting. We share the goal of killing Orochimaru too, and you _are_ showing a lot of promise…"

"So, you're seriously--"

"Jiraiya-sama seemed rather against anyone training you, though. He's not exactly a push-over, so maybe it isn't worth it…" Naruto was beginning to consider killing her just to be sure whether or not she would train him. He didn't know, of course, that she was just enjoying pissing him off. "Then again, crossing my future boss isn't high on my to-do list. I'll make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"As long as you stay interesting, I'll help you with your training. Stop being interesting and it stops being worth it."

"You're really gonna help?" She allowed herself a non-creepy smile, which almost made him fall off the ceiling.

"As long as you hold up your end. But before I start training you, hurry the hell up and fix my tower!"

"Yoshi!" Naruto hurried over to the next hole, happier than he had been in months. Finally, after all that time, he was going to have someone to help him with his ninjutsu! Kakashi had given him the bakuretsu kage bunshin scroll, but beyond that he hadn't really done much of anything. Anko, on the other hand, was basically offering to spend hours each day working on his techniques!

"Oh, almost forgot the other condition."

"What other condition?"

"Just that, if you're going to train with me, you're going to stop training with anyone else."

"What!"

"You can keep Gai's weights if you really want to, but I'm gonna need all of your time."

"But that'll slow me down!"

"No, it won't. If anything, it'll speed you up."

"How in the hell do you figure that, Anko-chan? You're not even a real jounin! Super-brows-sensei's help is making me _way_ better with taijutsu, and you really aren't that good with it, so I still need him!" She snickered at the name, although she found herself wishing it involved his spandex somehow.

"Hmm… Gai is _definitely _a better teacher for taijutsu than I am, I can't argue with that. As for why you should train with only me… besides the fact that I was Orochimaru's old apprentice, I—don't look so shocked! It's not _that_ disturbing! Anyway, besides that, there's the fact that your training has been too spread out."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you haven't learned to allocate your time properly. Training everything every day is just stupid. You need to work on one thing at a time so that you can give it your full concentration, and then you'll finish it faster and get more out of it."

"But…" He had to think about it, but he decided that she made a little sense. "Were you really Orochimaru's old apprentice?"

"Oh, are you just figuring out that that means I'll be the best one to teach you to fight him?" Her smile morphed into a smirk. "Yes, I was, and it's also one of the main reasons I want him dead."

"I'll… have to think about it."

"Wow, is Gai that good of a teacher or are you just a complete moron? Well, the offer's not gonna be there forever, so get back to me soon." A few minutes went by in silence, Anko beginning to wonder if he was seriously stupid enough to not accept her help, before he snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would I need to spend so much time with you that I couldn't spend any with Super-brows-sensei?"

"Call it… 'specialization.'"

"And you really think that you can make me strong enough to beat Orochimaru?"

"It'll take a while, but--"

"I don't have a while! You've got about two years! Can you do it or not?"

"T-two years! Are you insane? You're not even a chuunin yet! Do you realize how ridiculous--"

"Can you do it or not?" She had never seen him look so serious, which was odd given that he was standing upside-down holding a bucket of wet cement over (er, under) his head.

"I…" /_Damned kid and his ridiculous ability to surprise people! With my luck, the surprise will go the other way…_/ "I'm your best shot. I refuse to promise you results like that, but you're not going to do much better with anyone else." He suddenly looked very deep in thought, another first for her. After about two minutes of silence, he looked up (down) at her.

"I'll try it, but if it isn't working I'm going back to what I've been doing."

"Hmm… Alright!" Her smirk morphed back into the non-creepy smile, which he found somewhat creepy given that her smiles were supposed to be creepy. "You've moved up a little on the interesting scale, so I won't disappoint. Just remember: you're the one who set the timeframe, so I expect you to keep up with it!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about me. I don't care what kind of training you've got for me, as long as it's gonna make me strong enough in time! There's no way I'm gonna fail!" He stood there grinning for a few more seconds before she realized something very important.

"Don't stop fixing the room, idiot!"

* * *

**A/N:** Over 100 reviews! Yatta! …Er, I mean…

Sorry that the fights were so short, but these _were_ preliminary matches… Naruto's fight would have been longer, but I just found the idea hilarious for some reason. It was sort of necessary anyway, so that Ino was able to make that comment.

I don't know how much you're all gonna like the idea of Anko training Naruto exclusively, but it was just the path that made the most sense to me. She's got plenty of reasons, he's got plenty of reasons… It was planned from the beginning, and it's a far cry from an apprenticeship, I promise. I do love having Anko around though, even if she _is_ hard to write properly…

Original characters! Yay! Love 'em or hate 'em, they're necessary. I bet you're all just _dying_ to know what all of those names mean, too! Well, just because I actually took the time to find real Japanese words, I'll tell you!

Yawarakai, the incredibly short-lived embodiment of the generic absolute-defense, has a name that I found funny. You see, "yawarakai" means "soft" or "tender," and one translation I found even said "limp," but I don't really want to get into that side of the joke (that's Sai's job). Just in case you're actually wondering, even though I doubt you'll ever see him again, his kekkai genkai actually _does_ live up to the hype they were giving it, which I'm pretty sure is a first for absolute defenses in the Naruto world. His kekkai genkai was actually that his body absorbs physical blows and negates their effect (imagine punching that special "tempur-pedic" foam that they make beds out of), which is why he didn't even _try_ to defend himself from Neji's attack. Those cloud-nins would have lost anyway, don't get me wrong, but the only reason that they lost so easily was that they were too cocky.

Moving on, "kuro" means "black," and "mushi" means "bug," while "shi" means death and "maru" means circle. I realize that "maru" is in a lot of names, and I'm really not sure if it means "circle" in those instances, but it does in this one 'kay? The kanji is "死丸" for those of you who feel like being smart asses (yes, I realize that that can, and probably should, translate to "dead circle," but there's no way in hell I'm calling him "Shinomaru"). I thought having the sweet mama's boy be named "black bug death circle" would be kind of funny, so there you are. With his intellect and genjutsu skills he could have easily won the tournament, but he's got morals damn it! Oh, and for the record, his genjutsu are A-rank (except for ikuji wo korosu, his only higher level genjutsu, which is S-rank). The ranking system is different for genjutsu than for ninjutsu, so don't start thinking that he has some insane amount of chakra. Also, I _did_ make up the crap about higher and lower level genjutsu, so don't go looking for it.

Moving on again, "Touketsu" means "frozen," and "Kaen" means "blaze." I suppose you understand what he meant by "crappy puns" now… I'm into puns, but I'll try not to play that one too much. His name also describes his personality pretty well (to me at least). Also, before you ask, he's nowhere near jounin-level, even if he does have a lot of B-rank techniques. I don't want to give too much away right now, but he's seriously not jounin-level. He _is_ a genius though, so don't underestimate him just because he's a jackass.

In case you don't know, "Yama" means mountain and "take" means "peak," while "Oka" means "hill." In other words, his name is "Mountain-peak Hill," which I imagine would be a pretty cruel thing for parents to name their child. Seriously, who names their kid "Hill?" Of course, he actually was fairly strong, and could have easily advanced against almost any other opponent. Good thing Gaara got rid of him, eh?

Sabaku no Gaara's seeming double in all but personality, "Tsuchi no Ankoku" is the darkness of the earth. Literally, that's the translation of his name. Okay, I guess you could also translate it "darkness of the soil," but that doesn't sound nearly as cool… Just so you know, his abilities are NOT an exact copy of Gaara's. They're actually quite different, but similar enough to intimidate everyone for now. Ankoku's abilities are cooler in some ways, but weaker in others. That's really all I'm willing to say about him at the moment, as I don't want to give anything away, but that's going to be a fun fight to write…

"Chiri" means "dust," and "Boufuu" means "storm." Not only does that fit his attacks, it also fits his ridiculously over-confident attitude. While it's true that it was his idea to wipe out all of the competition, it's also true that he didn't help _at all_. Oka did most of the work with techniques you didn't see, truth be told. Boufuu did have better attacks, but nothing that could have stacked up with Lee (or almost anyone else that he could have ended up fighting). The main reason that he lost, however, was that I can't stand his style of speaking. It fits him, don't get me wrong, it's just annoying to hear it in my head (especially in his voice).

I stole the name "Aoshi" from Rurouni Kenshin's Shinimori Aoshi, in case you were wondering. Although the Kodachi is my favorite type of sword, I always hated that guy, so I gave his name to the weakest jounin just to insult him. Of course, my Aoshi is a pretty nice guy (you haven't seen much of it yet, but he is), so it could just as easily be perceived as a compliment… Kuso…

Of course, they say that writers put part of their personalities into every character they write… Does that mean that I've got six or seven different personalities? What about Kishimoto? Taking the time to think about how many characters he's actually made (especially when you include all of the other manga ideas he's had), he shouldn't even be able to form coherent sentences if that saying's true. I'm just saying…

At this point, I think it's time for some Q&A!

Am I absolutely terrible with fight scenes, or is it bearable? If I do suck, I'd love to hear some tips before the finals!

Should my character descriptions be more in-depth? The reason that I avoid describing them in too much detail is that my writing style is mostly dialogue-driven, but I could stand to be better about it.

Does anyone seem out of character in this chapter? I have trouble writing forceful personalities, especially Naruto and Anko…

Do Ankoku and Kaen piss you off? I hope they do…

Those of you who know Japanese better than I do, is my Japanese okay?

Do you think that Anko will have a positive effect on Naruto's training?

Did Aoshi make the right decision in nominating Kaen and Shimaru for the exams?

Thanks for reading my story so far! My favorite chapter is still number two, but I thought this one was alright. I hope you've enjoyed it! Please review!


	7. Meddling Kids And Their Dog, Too

**Prove the Pervert Wrong**

**Chapter Seven: Meddling Kids (And Their Dog, Too)**

**Disclaimer: If you're trying to track me down because you have abandonment issues, I don't have a psychology degree… Well, that and I don't want to talk to _you_… Also, as a side note, I don't own Naruto.**

"Speech"

/_Thoughts_/

"**Jutsu!**"

* * *

**Pre-Chapter A/N:** Over 200 reviews! Yatta! I just have a couple of quick things to say, and then I'll get to the story. 

The first thing is just my ultimate assurance to all of you that this fic will NOT contain slash/yaoi/yuri/shounen-ai/shoujo-ai/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. Every so often someone asks in a review, so I'm just gonna put the answer out here for everyone. Actual pairings probably won't occur for a while anyway, because thirteen is really kind of young for that… I knew people that "dated" when they were thirteen, but only one or two that had an actual relationship at that age (even then I have to skew the generally understood meaning of "relationship"). I _do_ know of plenty of relationships that started at fifteen and lasted for significant lengths of time, though. It's odd the difference a couple of years can make, isn't it?

My second concern is that more than one person has said that Naruto is getting too strong, which I feel is unjustified. When you consider that Itachi was already the leader of ANBU by Naruto's age (not to mention the many others who were already famous at that age), and that Naruto still isn't even jounin-level, he hardly qualifies as "super powered." It's true that he's a bit stronger in this story than in the anime, but not by _that_ much.

That's enough rambling for now. Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

"Naruto, you're early! _Very _early! Did you stop working on new ninjutsu so that you could focus more on your taijutsu?" Seeing Naruto look down at his feet, Gai became slightly alarmed. As far as he knew, Naruto _never_ failed to look people in the eyes. "What's wrong Naruto? Anything I can help with?"

"Uh, Super-brows-sensei, I'm…" Naruto wasn't really sure how to say that he was going to stop coming altogether, but he figured it wouldn't be very nice to just stop showing up.

"You're what, Naruto-kun?" Naruto glared at Lee for interrupting before turning his attention back to Gai's feet.

"I'm going to be training with someone else for a while."

"Someone else? Don't tell me… Did Jiraiya change his mind?" Naruto snorted loudly at the thought and looked back up at Gai's eyes.

"Ero-sennin? I don't even _want_ to train with _him_ anymore!"

"Naruto-kun, who could be a better trainer than Gai-sensei?"

"Heh, it's actually… er…" He mumbled something incomprehensible, causing Lee and Gai to raise their eyebrows.

"Naruto, just tell me who it is. I won't get mad!"

"Are you sure?" He remembered, of course, how spirited Gai had been about helping him, and he just _knew_ that Gai wouldn't like the idea of Anko taking over his training. Still, he had to admit that it seemed to be the best course of action, and he considered Sasuke much higher priority than Gai.

"I trust your judgment, Naruto. You always act with the passion of youth, after all!" He struck a nice-guy pose, more to loosen Naruto up than because he felt like it. "If you say that this person is a better teacher for you, then it must be true! Just tell me who it is." Naruto, the idiot that he was, actually _believed_ that Gai wouldn't care who it was.

"Well, if you really don't care… It's Anko-chan!" Unable to imagine a less appropriate teacher, Gai almost fainted. Lee, on the other hand, _did_ faint, and Gai didn't even notice.

"You're training with _Mitarashi Anko?_"

"Yeah…"

"What could possibly make her a better teacher than me! She's not even a jounin!"

"I thought you said you wouldn't be mad."

"I'm not mad!"

"Oookay… Anyway, Anko-chan is a better teacher for me because she knows more about Orochimaru."

"Oh…" He honestly hadn't considered that. "Well, that's true. I guess I can't compete with that…" His head fell for a second before popping back up with a smile. "Just remember: any time you're looking for some good training, you're always welcome to train with us!" He struck his nice-guy pose again, finally causing Naruto to grin.

"Yeah, I'll remember! Thanks, Super-brows-sensei!" Naruto ran as quickly as he could (which still wasn't all that fast with the weights) out of the clearing, leaving Gai alone with the unconscious Lee.

* * *

"So you've dealt with them?"

"Yeah, we can start training now! Let's go!"

"Alright, but first we need to set up a training schedule based on what you actually want to learn."

"Schedule…? We don't need a schedule, we'll just keep training the way I used to!" Anko pinched the bridge of her nose, amazed that his idiocy could arouse a headache in her so quickly.

"Two things are wrong with that. First, the way you used to train is technically considered a schedule. Second, I don't know what it was. That's why we're _setting it up_. So, if you think it's such a good idea, let's hear it. How did you train before?"

"I don't know why you're calling it a schedule when you don't even know what it was, but--"

"Naruto, for crying out loud! A schedule is just a way of allocating time! If you repeated the same training on any kind of regular basis, then that was a schedule!" /_How did this idiot invent S-rank techniques?_/ He eyed her suspiciously for a moment, not quite sure what to make of her statement.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! What did you _think_ a schedule was?"

"I don't know, it just sounds like it should be something complex and official…" She just sighed and shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose slightly harder. "Anyway, my old… 'schedule…' was just what made sense at the time."

"Which was?"

"Wake up at six, eat some ramen, go for a five hour sprint, create some--"

"Five hour _sprint_? On a daily basis?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Right after waking up? What, are you steam powered or something? That's not exactly a warm-up exercise!"

"It's not? Warmed _me_ up pretty well…" It took her a few moments of blankly staring at him to recover from the shock of a genin doing things like that, but when she realized who she was talking to it didn't seem like that big of a deal. Not only had he been training with Gai, he was the kid who had made _kage bunshin_ his combat specialty.

"Okay… what else?"

"After the run I usually created some kage bunshin and had a spar before lunch." She just stared at him until it became apparent that he wasn't going to say anything more.

"Is that it?"

"No, I was just waiting for you to overreact again." He grinned at her apparent anger, but she decided not to interrupt him again. "I usually ate lunch with Mabui-chan at Ichiraku's, and then spent a couple of hours working on a new technique before going over to Super-brows-sensei and Fuzzy-brows for some taijutsu practice. They kept me busy pretty late into the night, and when they left I usually got some last-minute work in on my technique."

"What about dinner?"

"Eh?"

"You mentioned breakfast and lunch, but you never said anything about dinner." Naruto started scratching the back of his head, which told her what she needed to know without his answer. "Why don't you eat dinner?"

"I usually just forget…"

"In other words, you're so ridiculously obsessed with your training that you skip it to get the extra workout time." His sheepish grin grew wider, prompting a more severe headache from her. "Well, that won't be happening anymore.

"What! You're gonna mess with my eating too?"

"I don't care _what_ you eat, but I do care _that_ you eat. Not eating regularly is unhealthy, and it's probably been slowing down your training. There's no way you're going to be stronger than Orochimaru in two years if you don't eat properly." She waited a moment for him to object, but he didn't have anything to say. "Good! Now, about the way you were training… it was stupid. Not only were you working on too many things at once, you were doing it in a moronic order."

"What do you mean by _that_? I was doing fine!"

"Yeah, you were doing fine, right… Is that why you asked for my help?" She grinned at his head falling, knowing that her point had gotten across. "Of course, if you had waited about two more seconds I would have explained it to you anyway… What I meant by 'moronic order' is that you switched your focus back and forth too much and the training lost efficiency."

"Efficiency…?"

"Yes, efficiency. Your workout was: stamina/strength, taijutsu, ninjutsu, taijutsu, ninjutsu. At the very least you should have grouped all of your ninjutsu training into one block, and all of your taijutsu into another to hone your focus on one at a time. A smarter idea would have been to split taijutsu and ninjutsu into separate days altogether. Realistically, you should also have had physical conditioning and form training on separate days too, and the preferable order would have been form, then conditioning, then ninjutsu. That way you would have allowed your body the maximum amount of time to recuperate from the conditioning before working on your taijutsu, and you could have worked on your ninjutsu while you were low enough on energy that your control would have been better, giving you the maximum benefit from all three types of training."

Naruto considered what she had said for a few moments, but decided that she was wrong for at least one major reason. "My body doesn't need to recuperate!" She cocked an eyebrow.

"What the hell do you mean by that? Muscles take time to rebuild, including yours."

"But they don't… My muscles never really get tired."

"That's just stupid. If anything that means that you're not really working very hard, which means that you aren't really getting any stronger."

"I am too working hard! I get stronger all the time!"

"You can't get stronger unless your muscles break down, and if they break down they'll get tired. Unless you're trying to say that they heal while you're still using them—oh, right, the super healing thing…" Remembering that Kakashi had once mentioned a cut healing so quickly that he was able to watch it, she realized that it was entirely possible that he _didn't_ feel his muscles wearing down during training. "Well, I'll give you that one for now. Before we figure out your new schedule, though, I need to see what you can do." Naruto definitely didn't like the sound of that, and it showed clearly in his face.

"What do you mean 'see what you can do?'"

"Relax, I didn't mean you have to fight me." He let out a sigh of relief, at which she smirked. "I just meant that you're going to be showing me the rasengan."

"You want to see the rasengan…? Why?"

"I've heard about your bad chakra control, Naruto. Before we can get started for real I need to know exactly how bad the situation is, and the rasengan is the easiest way to gauge it. At least, it's the easiest way to gauge it in _you_."

"But you don't know how to use the rasengan… How can you tell how bad my chakra control is if you don't know what it's supposed to be like?" She let out one of her evil smiles upon hearing that question.

"I have my ways… Just show me the technique, 'kay?" Although he was extremely put off by her smile, as he knew that she rarely smiled for reasons that he would consider to be good, he formed a kage bunshin and then the rasengan. Seeing said smile disappearing, he formed one of his own.

"How'd you like _that_, Anko-chan?"

"Honestly? I can't believe that you managed to create better versions of this technique without mastering it first." His smile was quickly replaced by a look of childish anger.

"I mastered it! It took me a whole month!"

"No, you didn't master it. It _is_ impressive that you could learn such a complicated technique in a month, and even more impressive that you found a little shortcut like using a bunshin to swirl the chakra for you, but that doesn't mean you mastered it."

"Then what am I doing wrong? It works just fine…"

"In order to master the rasengan, you need to be able to use it at a moment's notice, without your enemy seeing it coming. That's impossible if you have to have a kage bunshin swirling the chakra for you. Jiraiya taught you the technique, right?" He nodded, but she hadn't really meant it as a question. "Jiraiya happens to be the type of teacher who would overlook crappy chakra control in favor of pouring lots of power into your attacks. He's really the type who would say something like 'with your large amount of stamina, you should focus on power before control.' If I was to take a shot in the dark, I would say that he taught you kuchiyose no jutsu. Am I right?"

"How--"

"Kuchiyose no jutsu doesn't require chakra control: the more chakra you pour in, the bigger the animal that shows up. Unless you're using more chakra than is necessary to summon the leader of your summon type, Gamabunta in your case, you won't waste any chakra at all. Of course, that could still end up being a problem for someone like _you_, but I don't think he cared very much at the time."

"But--"

"We at least know your schedule now, though."

"Quit interrupting me when--"

"Until you master the rasengan completely, you won't be working on anything else!" She left a moment for that thought to sink in, a wide smirk on her face.

"But I need to work on my new technique!"

"Not everything is about strong techniques, idiot. You have a lot of chakra, far more than Orochimaru, but even you can run out, and the moment you do you're dead. The way you are now--"

"Wait, I have more chakra than Orochimaru?"

"You have at least twice as much!"

"Wow… I really _am_ amazing!"

"You might have a lot of chakra, but your control is so bad that you're probably using two to three times as much chakra as you should in any given attack."

"Two to three times…? So you're saying that, if I do this, I'll be able to use twice as many techniques?"

"Wow, it _is_ possible to teach you things! I was getting worried for a moment…" He glared at her, which made her grin grow three times wider. "You seem to be putting the chakra into your technique incorrectly, among other problems. I could explain it all to you, but you'll figure it out on your own anyway… The important thing to remember right now is that it will be impossible for you to beat Orochimaru unless you improve your control. So, how did you learn the rasengan?"

"Which part?"

"What do you mean 'which part?' The part where you rotate your chakra, idiot."

"Don't make fun of me! You asked how I learned the rasengan, not how I learned the rotation part of the rasengan! I got confused!"

"But I had already told you that the problem was your bunshin swirling the chakra for you, idiot."

"You also said I was putting too much chakra into it, so you could have meant the rubber ball part!" It took her a few moments, but she eventually came to the conclusion that he had definitely said "rubber ball part."

"Part of the training involved a rubber ball? What the hell did you do with a rubber ball?"

"I popped it, duh!"

"To learn the rasengan you… popped a rubber ball?" /_I guess I understand now why everyone always said that Yondaime was a little off…_/ "Whatever, I don't even care. Just tell me what the training was that taught you to rotate your chakra."

"I had to pop a water balloon…" She allowed a few moments for him to say "just kidding," but he never did.

"Please, _please_ tell me you're making that up." Seeing him shake his head, her hand again found its way to the bridge of her nose. "Fine, let's go get some water balloons before I realize just how ridiculous this actually sounds."

* * *

"You'd better start getting more serious about your training! If Tsuchikage-sama finds out that you've just been lying around the hotel room all this time, he's going to--"

"Then tell him that I've been training. It won't make a difference…"

"Damn it Ankoku! That's exactly the kind of cocky attitude that could cause even _you_ to lose! You're the only one from Iwa to make it to the final matches, meaning that the impression that people get of our strength relies entirely on you! People already think that Konoha and Suna are stronger than Iwa because we lost that war! If you lose we won't get many missions, and if we don't get many missions we won't make much money!"

"I fail to see why I should care. When I become Tsuchikage I'll crush Konoha and Suna, and then it will be obvious that Iwa is stronger. Until then life is boring, and I'll be treating it as such."

"You… you plan to start a war? Do you realize how serious that is? So many of our ninja could be lost… We could be crippled, or even destroyed outright!" Ankoku shrugged, a rarity for him.

"It should be entertaining, at the very least. You, on the other hand, are very boring. I'm going to go look for something of interest." Ankoku was gone so quickly that Ishiretsu, Ankoku's sensei, didn't even have time to yell again. All he was able to do was stare into space, horrified at the idea that Ankoku would start a war for purely entertainment purposes.

Ankoku, three blocks away, couldn't have conceivably cared less about what his sensei thought of his plan. Life was simply too boring, and a war seemed the perfect thing to spice it up. In the meantime, however, he had nothing to do. He knew that he had to become a chuunin before it would be possible to become Tsuchikage, but at the same time he was sorely tempted to attack a few Konoha jounin just for the hell of it. In an amazing show of willpower, he managed to convince himself to settle for finding someone interesting to spy on.

Hopping from roof to roof, he saw some strange things. First there was a purple-haired woman, carrying a crate of what appeared to be water balloons, shouting something at a grinning blond boy she was chasing. Later there was what appeared to be a transvestite boy drawing a picture of a tree, and then there was a vaguely familiar blond girl dragging two people out of a BBQ restaurant, screaming her head off all the while. Nothing was really interesting enough to curb his boredom, though. Until he saw Gaara, that is. Ankoku had no difficulty whatsoever in sneaking up on Gaara and his siblings, and was happy to find that he had seemingly missed very little of the conversation.

"But Gaara, how do you _know_ he doesn't have one? He has an ability kind of like yours, and he even acts kind of like you…"

"His eyes weren't like mine, they were simply bored. He doesn't have one."

"You're basing it on something that uncertain?"

"It's not uncertain…" Something in the tone of his voice apparently told Temari that that part of the conversation was closed, because she returned to her dango with a nervous look on her face. "He won't matter, regardless."

"Why do you want to fight that Naruto kid so badly, anyway?" Kankurou, having finished his dango, felt the question needed to be answered. While it was true that Naruto had defeated Gaara's perfect form, it was also true that Gaara had changed completely after that fight. It seemed unlikely that the new Gaara's motivation was a desire to kill, but that was the only thing that Kankurou could think of.

"I… wish to confirm something." Kankurou and Temari were reminded all to well of the old Gaara's way of confirming his existence, but Ankoku just found it interesting. "Naruto taught me something. I would like to make sure that I've really learned it."

"He… taught you something? What exactly did he teach you?" Gaara briefly considered telling them, but he didn't want to say something so personal with Ankoku listening. He had, of course, known that Ankoku was there the whole time.

"If you two are finished eating, we should return to the hotel."

* * *

"Stupid brat, making me carry it all the way here just to annoy me… So your training is really just to pop the balloon?"

"Hey! It's harder than it looks!"

"Relax, I never said it was easy. I just think that it's a bit odd for a training exercise." She tossed him one of the many water balloons they had brought, "get started."

"Yoshi!" Holding out the balloon with his hand, he began the familiar process of swirling his chakra. After about four seconds of watching him, she managed to figure out that his problem wasn't with rotating the chakra, but with rotating it in more than one direction. It wasn't really that difficult to see, given that his bunshin had swirled the chakra in many different directions, but she would never have thought that that was the hardest part of the technique.

As Naruto continued with his training, one thing became very clear: he wasn't getting any better. No matter how much he tried, the rotation continued to be in only one direction. After an hour of watching him failing at the same thing repeatedly, Anko was beginning to wish that she had brought a book. Even one of Kakashi's perverted books would have been more entertaining.

Lunch time rolled by, and he still hadn't improved at all. She considered giving up on him and claiming that it had just been a bad idea, but eventually came to her senses and realized that that wasn't true. Despite his difficulties in controlling his chakra, he was definitely her best shot at getting Orochimaru killed. Besides, he was really a pretty good kid, if only a little too enthusiastic.

"It's lunch time, you can stop now." He continued to try for a moment before responding, and even then he didn't drop the balloon.

"Already? But we just got started!"

"Naruto, it's been _hours_. Regardless of your inability to sense the passing of time, I'm not going to let you continue to skip meals. Besides, aren't you going to meet that person for lunch?"

Instantly realizing that she was right, he dropped the balloon and sprinted off in the direction of Ichiraku's without a word. Luckily for her his speed was still sub-par with his weights on, so she was able to follow him without any trouble. After seeing him sit down, she nearly fainted at the thought of who he was sitting next to. She had been listening when he had said the name "Mabui," but she never would have thought it was _that_ Mabui. Although she managed to remain standing, her mouth was left hanging open. Naruto, oblivious as ever, didn't even realize that Anko had followed him.

"Sorry I'm late, Mabui-chan."

"No problem! I actually got here a little late my--" Finally noticing Anko standing behind Naruto, Mabui felt as though she was about to have a heart attack. Seeing her surprised expression, which was an exact mirror of Anko's, Naruto got slightly worried.

"Mabui-chan? Are you okay?" He tried waving his hand in front of her face, but he got no response. When all else failed, he followed her trail of vision to Anko just in time to see the special jounin getting over her shock. "You _followed_ me?"

"Of course I did! I already told you that I'm not gonna let you skip any more meals." /_I can't _believe _she actually met him. This is either _very_ good, or _very_ bad…_/ "So… When did you meet Mabui?"

"Eh?" He looked back and forth between them, more confused than he had been in months. Mabui finally got over her shock enough to close her mouth, and decided to answer the question for him.

"We met a few months ago, Anko. When did _you_ meet him?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'meet…' We technically 'met' six months ago when he took his first shot at the chuunin exams, but we actually got to know each other a few days ago." She sat down on the other side of Naruto, who was still looking back and forth between them. When several seconds went by in awkward silence, he finally came back to his senses enough to ask the all-important question.

"Mabui-chan, how do you know a psycho like Anko-chan?"

"Hey! I'm not a _psycho_, I'm just… quirky!"

"'Quirky?' You licked my blood!"

"Yeah, but--"

"YOU LICKED HIS BLOOD?" Anko couldn't remember ever seeing Mabui looking so angry, which she knew was a bad sign. "You LICKED his BLOOD?"

"Yeah. It tasted pretty good, too." She smiled, but Mabui didn't seem to find the statement humorous. "It's really not that big of a deal, you know…"

"You _licked_ his _blood_! How is that _not_ a big deal?" Not wanting to see the argument drag on forever, as it was halting their response to his question, Naruto saw fit to interrupt.

"Mabui-chan, that doesn't matter! How do you two know each other?"

"…We're cousins." She ignored the look of utter horror that formed itself on his face, hoping that he would get over it quickly. "Anyway… if you _really_ don't care," she eyed him suspiciously for a moment, "I guess I can let the blood licking slide. Even if it _is_ one of the most disgusting and depraved things I've ever heard of…"

Ichiraku waited a while longer to make sure that they were done talking about blood licking before taking their orders. He was surprised to see that Anko was ordering as much as Naruto and Mabui, but he wasn't about to complain about making more money. Other than the shouts of "itadakimasu," the meal passed in an awkward silence. Naruto was too stunned that Mabui was related to Anko to say anything, and neither of the cousins were sure of how to break the ice. It had been years since they had even seen each other, and they hadn't left on particularly good terms. When the meal was finished, Naruto ended the silence.

"Mabui-chan, we've gotta get back to training now…"

"Oh… Well, be sure to work hard!"

"Of course! Come on Anko-chan! Let's go!"

"You go ahead, Naruto. I have to take care of something really quick, and then I'll catch up." It took him a few seconds, but Naruto nodded and ran off to the training grounds. Seeing Mabui turning to leave, Anko grabbed her shoulder. "Mabui, we need to talk."

"What could _we_ possibly have to talk about?"

"Alright, I know we don't really get along very well, but is the harsh tone really necessary?" Mabui was glaring at her, so she decided to get right to the point. "You know as well as I do that I never actually _hated_ him, and now that I've met him…" She cleared her throat in preparation for what was most likely going to be the hardest thing she would ever have to say. "While I'm not about to say that you were _right_, I will say that you… weren't _completely_ wrong."

"What was that? I could have sworn I just heard you say--"

"Don't get me wrong here, I'm not calling him a hero! You can't be a hero if you had no choice about what was happening. All I'm saying is that, if it weren't for him, we'd all be dead right now. After getting to know him, I can honestly say that he doesn't deserve the way the villagers treat him. He's really not a bad kid, even if he _can_ be a little annoying." Mabui was left frozen in place by Anko's words, not quite sure what to make of them. She spent a few moments thinking about it before deciding on what Anko's true line of thought probably was.

"You're not just trying to get on my good side because we're going to be seeing more of each other, are you?"

"Of course not! I wouldn't dare give you the satisfaction of hearing me say something like that unless I actually meant it." Anko smiled, which made Mabui begin to wonder if she was actually being honest. "Don't you know me at all?"

"That _does_ sound like you…" Finally believing her cousin, Mabui formed a smile of her own. "Wow, how many years has it been since we've been on speaking terms?"

"I'm not really sure, but I do have one other thing to say." Her smile faded, as did Mabui's soon after. "While I understand that you consider Naruto to be a hero and all that, you seriously need to stop thinking so highly of him. He's just a person, after all."

"I know that!"

"Do you really? It seems to me that you respect his opinion more than your own judgment, even though you're smarter and more experienced than him, which would suggest that you don't. Just keep it in mind, 'kay?"

"…Okay, but I really don't think--"

"Oh, one last thing."

"You have even _more_ to say? Didn't you tell Naruto that this would be quick?"

"It's just one little thing… Unlike the two of you, I'm not really a ramen lover. That being said, we've gotta go get something else every once in a while, or I'll go totally insane."

"And the difference would be…?" Anko glared before leaving, but they were both glad to be back on good terms with each other.

* * *

/_It's been _hours_… Why hasn't he gotten any better? Is it really that hard, or is he really _that_ bad? No, he made S-rank techniques on his own, so he can't be _that_ bad… This is _so_ boring…_/ "Naruto, why don't you take a break?"

"I don't have time for a break! I haven't _done_ anything yet!"

"And you really think you're going to magically get better just because you don't take a break?" He didn't respond, but he didn't stop either. "Fine, don't take a break, see what I care…" After a few more minutes passed, it was obvious that he really wasn't going to take a break. She eventually decided that she _had_ to talk to him to pass the time, lest she die of boredom. "So… how long have you wanted to be Hokage?" He glared up at her, not quite sure why she was bugging him.

"…Since I was six."

"Wow, that long? What made you want to be Hokage at that age?"

"I couldn't get any respect, so I spent a lot of time figuring out how to get people to notice me. People always looked up to the old man, so I decided to be the strongest ninja in the village so that they'd look up to me too!" It took him a few moments, but eventually he realized that he wasn't training. That problem was quickly corrected.

/_Interesting… I wonder if he's really thought it out, though._/ "Doesn't that seem like kind of a dead-end dream?"

"Eh?"

"Once you become Hokage, you really have nothing left to reach for. It probably won't be nearly as satisfying as you're expecting it to be, people won't respect you as much as you're expecting them to, and you won't get to do almost any field work. Managerial positions don't really fit people with personalities like yours anyway, and chances are that you'll be bad at the job. Totally pointless…" Much to her surprise, he actually looked angry. She really hadn't expected him to care about what other people thought of his dream, but he clearly did.

"You think I care if it's dead-end? It's better than doing nothing! If it isn't as satisfying as I'm expecting, I'll find something else to reach for once I'm there! If people don't respect me, I'll make them! I'll worry about the future when I get there! I have to take care of the present first!" Seeing him going back to his training with a renewed fervor, she smirked.

/_He really is interesting, I have to hand it to him. Most people get discouraged when they hear that achieving their goals won't make them happy, but he seems to think that he can _force_ his circumstances to be the way he wants them to be. Well… at least I got his mind off of that Uchiha kid for a while._/

* * *

"We just saw him two days ago; do we really have to do this?"

"You heard Lee-san, didn't you? He's training with that crazy Anko lady! Of course we have to do this!"

"Yeah, but… ugh, never mind…" Kiba really didn't want to have an argument with Sakura over it, and he saw that Ino was considering joining the fray, so he just let it go.

"Lee-san, you're _sure_ that's what he said, right?"

"Yes Sakura-san, I'm sure." Several of them shuddered at the thought, but they continued on towards Naruto's usual training location. When they approached the clearing and saw Lee's claims confirmed, several of them had the urge to rub their eyes in disbelief.

Looking up from the book that she had brought, Anko was annoyed to see ten teens walking into Naruto's training session. Recognizing them from the exams just added to her annoyance. "Oi, we're already using this spot! Go train somewhere else!" Naruto, suddenly realizing that he hadn't warned her about their constant interruptions, did his best to look like he hadn't noticed anything.

"What are you talking about, Anko-sensei? Didn't Naruto tell you we were coming?" Anko's glare suddenly found its way to Naruto, who immediately winced even though his back was to her.

"You knew they were going to be interrupting and you didn't bother to tell me?" Suddenly noticing that she was embracing him from behind with a kunai to his throat, he gulped audibly and dropped his balloon. "That was kind of rude, wasn't it?"

"I forgot…"

"Oh, is that all?" She released him and put her kunai back into its holster, but smiled and slowly licked her lips for dramatic effect. It was a nice feeling, having the intimidation factor back. "That's alright, I suppose. Well, it's lunchtime right now, so why don't we go get Mabui and head out for some dango?"

"Anko-sensei, you know Mabui?" Seeing that all ten of them were eyeing her curiously, Anko became very confused.

"Wait, _all_ of you know Mabui?" /_Is the library that popular now?_/

"Yeah…" Ino looked around to see if there was anyone that _didn't_ look confused, but Naruto was the only one. "But how do _you_ know her, Anko-sensei?"

"Hmm… That's really none of your business. Come on Naruto, let's go!"

"Yoshi!"

After following Anko and Naruto to the library, they became even more confused by the fact that Mabui just smiled and greeted Anko warmly. It took a moment for Mabui to notice them, and they got the impression that she and Anko knew each other _well_.

"Hey everybody! We were just about to go get some lunch, do you wanna come?"

"Mabui…"

"Oh, have you guys met Anko?" The wary way that they were eying her was more than enough to answer her question. "She tries to act mean and creepy, but she's really pretty nice deep down. So, do you wanna come?"

"Uh… of course we'll come to lunch, Mabui…"

* * *

"What do you mean 'no!' Tsunade-shishou okayed this personally! You can't just say 'no!'"

"Tsunade-sama actually told you that you could drag Naruto away from his training?"

"Well… not in so many words, but--"

"Why don't you just tell me exactly what she said? That'll show whether or not you're overstepping your boundaries here." That left Sakura with very little to say, considering that Tsunade had never actually said that they could stop his training. She looked around at the others, most of who looked to be on her side, before deciding on a course of action.

"It doesn't matter what she said! What she meant is what counts!"

"You think so? Well, I suppose that's true…" Naruto suddenly looked very depressed, but everyone else was finally feeling confident. "Of course, Tsunade-sama is very good about wording things correctly, so she probably meant exactly what she said." Every expression except Anko's immediately changed. "Come on Naruto, you've got training to do."

"Yatta! You're so cool, Anko-chan!" She allowed herself a grin at that comment before the two of them went running off towards the training grounds. Completely clueless as to what to do, the group of ten didn't follow right away, opting instead to discuss the plan of action. Unfortunately, none of them had any ideas, so several minutes passed in silence.

"We're gonna do _something_, right?"

"Of course we are, Ino-pig! We'll just have to think of a way to convince him to take a break willingly…"

"You really think that can be done?"

"I hope so…"

"What happened to your original plan?"

"It backfired, Neji. Didn't you notice?"

"I noticed that you gave up on it prematurely, but other than that nothing really went wrong."

"What do you mean 'nothing went wrong?' We weren't able to build up his confidence enough that he thought he had earned a break, and we were constantly reminding him of the thing that made him want to train in the first place!"

"It seemed to me that that was due to poor execution, not a flawed plan."

"It's too late to use that plan, though…" Everyone looked over at Shikamaru, who let out a big sigh. "The idea was to make Naruto realize that he had come a long way in a short time by being amazed at his accomplishments, right? We've been paying attention to how well he's been doing for months now, so it won't be convincing if we suddenly start acting like he's the most amazing person of all time…"

"True, but I wasn't suggesting that we revert to it. I was merely curious as to why they gave up on it so quickly…"

"We're wasting time!"

"Are you saying that we're in a hurry, Ino?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh. In that case, I'll have to disagree with you. Based on the current circumstances, I would say that there is little or nothing left that we can do today. We'll have to use this time to come up with a proper--"

"No, there's gotta be _something_ we can do today!"

"But Sakura-san, Anko-sensei is hardly the type to back down, and--"

"We can at least try again!" No one wanted to fight her on it after seeing that her eyes were watering, so they all nodded. "Come on!" They all followed her out of the restaurant and towards the training grounds, wondering exactly what she was planning to do. When they finally arrived, she marched right up to Anko looking _very_ serious. "Naruto's coming with us." Anko, looking up from her book, found herself very annoyed.

"I don't see why you would think that, considering that he doesn't _want_ to go with you. Now, if you don't mind, he's in the middle of some training, so--"

"We're not leaving without him."

"Oh?" /_Tsunade-sama's apprentice… I could force them to leave, but Tsunade-sama _did_ give them all the day off for a reason, whatever that might be. There's no way in hell I'm gonna let his training get slowed down, though._/ "Suit yourselves, then. You'll just end up spending the whole day here, watching him train."

"Anko-chan! You can't let them stay!"

"Relax, none of them have the talent necessary to learn the rasengan, and even if they did they couldn't learn it just by watching you do one part of the training. They might annoy you a bit, but other than that there's no real reason to be upset."

"…Chikushou…" Although they didn't like Anko saying that they were lacking in talent, Naruto's friends settled in to watch him train. It was more to support Sakura than because they actually felt that being there was going to do something, but they were there all the same. Right when Naruto was about to pick up the water balloon again, Kiba realized that something was off.

"Wait, Naruto already knows the rasengan! Why's he doing training to learn something he already knows?"

"Because he never mastered it. Now shut up and let him train!" Not wanting to test Anko's temper, they all remained silent as Naruto picked up the balloon and resumed his training. After it became obvious that playing with the balloon was the training that he was doing, all of them except for Shino sweat-dropped. Several minutes passed by before anyone was willing to risk saying anything, and even then only Sakura felt it was worth it.

"Naruto, please… just take the day off and come hang out with us!"

"No way Sakura-chan! I have to get stronger so I can--"

"Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you? We'll save Sasuke together! You don't have to do everything, so don't push yourself so damn hard!"

"But… if we're doing it together, I still need to give my all! Even if I don't have to do _all_ the work, I'm still going to do my share!"

Anko looked up, not wanting to waste her book while other things were around for entertainment, and was astounded to see that the balloon was acting slightly differently than usual. She realized, after a moment of analysis, that he was managing a second, slightly weaker ring of rotation, meaning that he had improved. Although she wasn't sure why, it seemed that having people tell him to stop training made his training more effective. That didn't mean she was okay with them telling him to stop, but it did mean that she didn't bother to tell them to shut up.

"Damn it Naruto! You're already doing more than your share!"

"It's impossible for me to do more than my share! Doing my share means doing my best!"

"But--"

"Sakura-chan!" She fell silent at the harsh tone, and Naruto went back to his training. Feeling her eyes watering, she quickly closed them and let her head fall, not wanting anyone (including herself) to realize how deeply affected she actually was by the way he was acting.

* * *

"Well, that was a bust. Not only did we fail, we wasted the whole day!"

"Shut up Kiba! Forehead feels bad enough!" Seeing that nearly everyone looked disappointed with the way that things had turned out, Shikamaru let out a big sigh.

"We should at least come up with a plan, now that we've shown that spur-of-the-moment tactics won't work."

"What kind of plan, Shikamaru? I think he has the advantage in terms of strategic thought…"

"That might be true, but it's still better than trying to improvise. Of course, if we're trying to catch someone like _him_ off-guard, we'll really have to think this through. The first thing we need to consider is _why_ we're doing this."

"Wait, you're just trying to convince us not to do it again!"

"No, I think we have at least one valid reason this time." He didn't appreciate the dropped jaws, but he decided to overlook them. "That reason is, of course, that his obsession seems to have gotten much more severe. If you had told me a month ago that Naruto was going to speak harshly to Sakura, I never would have believed you, but he did it today without hesitation, just because he believed she was hampering his training. Now that his obsession has grown to the point where it's affecting his personality, we have every right to be concerned."

"_You're_ concerned? It must be worse than we thought…"

"It might be troublesome, but he's our friend. We can't just sit by and watch him lose himself for the sake of bringing Sasuke back to Konoha against his will." They all smiled and nodded at that, glad to know that Shikamaru actually cared one way or the other.

"So, what's next?"

"What do you mean 'what's next?' I said we need to consider why we're doing this first."

"Didn't you just explain that?"

"I explained _my_ reason. Based on what all of you have said before, I would hope that there are other reasons that you all want to do this."

"Isn't one reason enough?"

"Not necessarily…" He let out another large sigh, but didn't bother to elaborate at all. Not wanting to question him, as he was far better at this sort of thing than any of them, they all tried to think of exactly what was actually motivating them. Tenten was the first to come up with an answer.

"Well, there was that bad feeling we were having about his training… Asuma-sensei said he had a bad feeling too, so--"

"That's no good, Tenten."

"What? Why not?"

"It's an unknown factor, so we can't use it as motivation to do something… For all we know, the bad feeling we were having was that we noticed small changes in Naruto's personality, meaning that this would map back to the first reason."

"Oh…" Ino looked unconvinced.

"But it seemed different today… Did anyone else feel like Anko-sensei was making it worse?" Seeing everyone nod, she frowned. "I wonder if that has to do with his secret that Asuma-sensei won't tell us about…"

"We'll get to that later, so don't worry about it yet. Are there any other reasons, or do we just have the one?" They resumed their thinking, but couldn't think of anything. "I was actually right? You were doing it for no reason? So troublesome…"

"Hey, don't start giving us that crap, Shikamaru! Just because a bad feeling isn't a good enough reason for _you_, that doesn't mean it's not a reason!"

"Fine, whatever… It doesn't really matter anyway, as we have a _real_ reason now. The next step is to figure out exactly what it is that we hope to accomplish."

"What are you talking about? We already know what we want to do! That's why we're here!"

"I hate to say it Shikamaru, but Ino-pig's right. Our goal is to make Naruto slow down in his training. We all know that." Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing that he had smarter people to work with.

"There are at least two problems with that, Sakura. First: that's far too vague to actually be useful as a mission statement. He could cut one minute off of his Saturday training and we'd be done. We need something exact to work towards, so that we can measure our progress and know when we've achieved our goal. Second: that goal doesn't seem to fit our motivation very well. It's entirely possible for him to train less and still be obsessed, or to lose his obsession and train even more. Considering that he _is_ a ninja, wanting him to train less seems… stupid."

"But…" Sakura didn't like the sound of that, but she couldn't figure out why. "Are you saying that our goal should have to do with getting rid of his obsession with bringing Sasuke back?"

"No."

"Then what _are_ you saying?"

"I'm not really saying anything. We don't have enough information to form a goal just yet."

"What're you talking about? How can we not have enough information to know what we want to do?" Seeing that the others were thinking along the same lines as Ino, Shikamaru let out yet another deep sigh.

"We don't know what our goal is yet because we don't know what his secret is, or how it's affecting him. Given that it could involve Sasuke, or any number of other things that we probably can't even imagine, we'll need to know what it is before we continue."

"What! How're we supposed to find out what his secret is?"

"Sakura, there's really no reason to get so upset… There are plenty of people that know, so we'll just have to get the information out of them in whatever capacity we can. I'm sure that Tsunade-sama knows, Ino said that Asuma knows, Mabui seems to know, and I would think that Kurenai-sensei and Gai-sensei would know. Anko probably knows too, but I don't think we'll be getting any information out of her…"

"So you're saying that we need to get information out of some jounin and the Hokage…"

"It really shouldn't be too hard, as long as we're subtle. We'll need to pool our info together as soon as possible, but you can take care of that, can't you?"

"Me? Why would _I_ be able to take care of it?"

"I just mean that you have to convince Tsunade-sama to give us all an extra day off next week, preferably mid-week so that we all have time to actually get the information."

"Oh… I _guess_ that makes sense…"

* * *

"He convinced Anko to help him? _Mitarashi _Anko?" Sakura nodded, leaving Tsunade no choice but to let her eyes widen slightly. "I don't know how he keeps doing that, but I wish he'd teach me to do it too…"

"Doing what, Tsunade-shishou?"

"Finding the perfect person to help with whatever situation he's in, and then convincing them to actually help him." Sakura was clearly confused by that, but Tsunade really didn't feel like explaining. "She doesn't seem like the type to take on a student, either. I don't suppose you were there when she agreed to it?"

"No, I wasn't…" Tsunade looked disappointed, but Sakura had more important things to worry about. "Um, Tsunade-shishou, I was wondering…" /_Crap, what do we know about his secret?_/ "Um… Can you think of any reason that it might be dangerous to use shintenshin no jutsu on Naruto?" Seeing her teacher suddenly glaring at her, Sakura had a feeling that she wasn't as subtle as she thought she was.

"That's classified information, Sakura. It's really none of your business, and you would do well to drop it."

"Wait just a minute! Why can't I know? He's my teammate, so--"

"I wouldn't tell you even if you were _marrying_ him, so being on his team won't even get you a hint. Seriously, let it go."

"But--"

"No. You don't need to know, so I'm not going to tell you. It would be illegal to tell you anyway, so quit asking."

"Kuso…" /_There's gotta be a way to get it out of her… If we just knew a bit more about it, this would be _way_ easier._/ Her training for the day began in silence, and that silence continued on for nearly an hour before she thought of a new approach. "Tsunade-shishou? Do you know if Naruto has ever… killed anyone?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Well, it's just that I remember someone saying that he killed their whole family once, so--"

"I told you to drop it, Sakura."

"Drop what?"

"It's obvious what you're doing, and it isn't going to work. If you keep pressing it, I'm going to get angry. _Very _angry." Sakura wasn't very happy with that, but she really didn't want to anger Tsunade any more.

* * *

"Chikushou!" He again formed the dragon and bird seals, and again got no results. "Chikushou! Chikushou! Why can't I figure out this technique?"

"Kaen?" Kaen turned around to see a man with bright blue hair, many scars, and a warm smile carrying a plate of food. "Your mother made a snack for you, so I thought I'd see how you're doing."

"Go away father, I'm busy."

"Too busy for your mother's tempura?" Seeing that he had at least gotten Kaen to look his way again, Aoshi smiled. "You'll have more energy if you eat it, you know. More energy means more strength, so--"

"And what would _you_ know about strength? I'm having trouble with a technique right now, so the last thing I need is for you to be in here bothering me."

"Trouble with a technique?" Peering over Kaen's shoulder, he was surprised to see that he actually recognized the scroll. "You've moved on to A-rank jutsu already?"

"Yes. Now go away."

"I seem to remember that there was an intermediary technique between this one and one you already know… The scroll for it is right upstairs, if you--"

"Bring it to me."

"Sure thing! It might take me a while to find it though, so you should really go ahead and have some of that tempura while you wait." Kaen waited until his father was out of the room before trying some of the tempura, and even then he only took one shrimp. He really didn't want his father to have the satisfaction of thinking that he was being helpful. After a fifteen minute wait, Aoshi returned with a dusty scroll.

"Took you long enough."

"Yeah, well…" /_He barely touched it…_/ "Here's the scroll for that technique I was telling you about. It actually sounds pretty useful on its own, so it should be worth your time to learn it anyway." Snatching the scroll from his father's hand, Kaen gave it a quick once-over.

"Yes, this does look useful… Well, if that's all you're here for, I would appreciate it if you would leave now."

"Alright… I'll just leave the tempura here, in case you decide to have some more."

* * *

"Good job getting us all the day off again, Sakura."

"It wasn't easy… Did you guys at least find out what his secret is?" The frowns that she received answered her question, but Shikamaru decided to take charge of the conversation.

"None of us really expected to find out what the actual secret is, we just needed to get some clues. We'll just have to gather all of our information together and hope it shows what his secret is. Sakura, you go first."

"Yeah, sure…" Her gaze dropped to the ground, letting the others know that she probably didn't know anything significant. "Do you guys remember when that guy at the dango shop said that Naruto had killed almost all of his family?"

"You found out what he meant?" They all looked anxious to hear what she was going to say, but she didn't think it really answered any questions. "Come on Forehead! Spill it!"

"I didn't find out what he meant, but I did find out that it has to do with what makes using your shintenshin no jutsu on Naruto dangerous."

"So… it's dangerous because he's a mass murderer?"

"He's not a mass murderer! You know Naruto's not that kind of person!" They were all taken aback by her sudden defense of him, especially since Ino's tone had been extremely sarcastic, but none of them said anything about it. "All I know is that the two things are related… Well, that and that his secret is classified information."

"Classified?" Shikamaru looked interested, but she couldn't figure out why. "You're sure that she said the actual word 'classified?'"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's interesting, given what Asuma said…"

"Asuma-sensei told you something? What did he say?"

"Don't get so worked up Forehead, it wasn't really all that much. He basically just implied that a lot of people know the secret, whatever it is."

"A lot of people know it? How can it be a secret if a lot of people know it?"

"He wouldn't say…"

"Ino, you remember the way Naruto acted the first day of training with us, right?"

"Of course I do Chouji! Why?"

"Well, it's just… He really didn't seem surprised at all that Asuma knew, but he seemed to think he'd die if you found out."

"Oh yeah! That was really strange… Asuma said you weren't allowed to know either. What kind of secret could that be?"

"Ino, Chouji, shut up for a minute." Ino glared at Shikamaru, causing him to sigh. /_Being in charge of something like this is too troublesome. Too bad Sakura isn't smart enough to handle it…_/ "That's all we were able to get out of Asuma. What about Kurenai-sensei?" Seeing that Kiba was about to talk, he decided to save himself a headache. "Shino?"

"Kurenai-sensei denied having any knowledge of Naruto's past whatsoever. It was obvious that she knew something, but we were in no position to force information out of her."

"Oh… Tenten, did Gai-sensei know anything?"

"Yes, but he--"

"Tenten, don't tell lies! Gai-sensei told us that he knows nothing about Naruto's secret!"

"But Lee… he told us that without us even mentioning it directly…" A few of them sweat-dropped, but ultimately they all knew that it was to be expected. "So, Shikamaru, what now?"

"I have one more question before we can start trying to figure it out. Ino, what did he actually _say_ when you tried to use shintenshin on him?"

"What did he _say_? Uh…" She had to think about it for a moment, but eventually she remembered. "He just asked if I can talk to people while in their minds… Why?"

"That's interesting…" /_Why would _that_ bother him?_/ "Let's summarize what we know. Naruto has a secret that's known by a large number of people, including quite a few jounin and the Hokage. It's classified information, and he seems to care whether or not people know, but he wasn't at all surprised to find out that Asuma knew. Using shintenshin on him is dangerous, and the same event can apparently make him look like both a murderer and a hero. Whether or not people know seems to be an issue of either rank or age, but given that Mabui and that old man seemed to know I'm inclined to say age."

"So what do you think it is?" He gave Ino the single longest, most tired look he had ever given her.

"You're kidding, right? There could be any number of possibilities! It could have to do with his family, his birth, something he did as a kid that none of us remember… Whatever it is, we don't have enough information to narrow it down yet."

"What!" Sakura looked pissed, and they all knew why. "You're supposed to be the genius! Hurry up and figure it out so we can help him!"

"Sakura, calm down…" /_So damn troublesome… Naruto, you'd better appreciate what I'm doing when all of this is over._/ "We aren't completely out of options yet. While it's true that the jounin are too smart to give out information, we happen to know that Naruto is an idiot."

"Wait, you're saying that our best shot is to get Naruto to tell us himself?" As they thought about it, it really didn't seem like a bad idea. There was one problem though, and they all realized it fairly quickly. "Won't Anko-sensei keep him from telling us?" Shikamaru grinned at that question.

"That's why we wait until she's absorbed in the book we know she's going to bring."

* * *

/_Damn this is creepy… How in the hell can she stand to do nothing but silently watch him for so long? It's been three hours!_/ "Mabui, are you _sure_ that I can't interest you in something to read? I understand that you came to watch him train, even if I'm not clear on the reason, but--"

"Anko seriously, I'm fine!" Although she couldn't help but think that Mabui was just proving her point for her, Anko decided to just let it go. Naruto clearly didn't mind, and Mabui didn't look bored, so she didn't think it was really any of her business if Mabui was idolizing the boy.

It was three hours after they got back from lunch that Anko began to notice that two things were most definitely out of the ordinary. The first was that, even after all those hours of Naruto doing the same kind of training, Mabui still seemed absorbed in watching him. She didn't talk, she didn't read, she didn't look around, and she was blinking a disturbingly small number of times. Anko had always assumed that, after being around him for a while, Mabui's Naruto obsession would wear off, but she had obviously been wrong.

The second, far more confusing issue was that, as far as she could tell, Mabui's mere presence was having a positive effect on his training. She wasn't sure whether it was because he was more confident, more comfortable, or more pressured to do well, but she didn't really care. His training was picking up speed, and that was all that mattered.

Unfortunately, even with Mabui there, his training was still going far too slowly for her tastes. By the end of the day he was barely able to maintain rotation in four different directions, and they had to be significantly different directions for him to keep it going for very long. Not only that, it looked like the balloon was swirling way too slowly to pop, and he was never able to keep the pace even.

* * *

Again seeing a random swell in the water balloon, Anko was beginning to get angry. It almost seemed that his control was getting worse as it was getting better, and she didn't know what could possibly be causing it. Only one idea was coming to mind, but she really didn't want that to be it. Of course, she didn't want to just ignore it if it was the problem, so she resigned herself to check. After carefully making sure that no one was nearby, she walked over to him and crouched down so that their eyes were level.

"Naruto, lift your shirt and mold some chakra."

"What! Why?"

"Just do it!"

"But what are you gonna--" Suddenly remembering the time when Jiraiya had helped him with the water walking training, his face lit up. "Oh, are you gonna hit the relaxation points?"

"The what?"

"When I was learning to water walk, Ero-sennin hit some points on my stomach to relax me, and it made my control way better… So you aren't gonna do that?"

"No, but I still might be able to make your control better. You'll need to lift your shirt, though…" He happily lifted his shirt and molded some chakra, not wanting to stop her from helping him, and she saw the seal for the first time. Upon analyzing the seal, she realized something very important: she had almost no knowledge of seals. Straining her memory somewhat, she managed to remember some very basic principles of fuuinjutsu. From what she could tell, Naruto's seal was set up to allow Kyuubi's chakra to leak out, which was exactly what she had been afraid of.

"Naruto, I have to go deal with something really quick. You just keep training, 'kay?"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm just going to look into helping you with your training. It shouldn't take too long." With that she took off towards the Hokage tower, leaving Naruto alone with his water balloons. There was a small problem when she entered Tsunade's office, however, and that problem's name was Sakura.

"Anko? What are you doing here?" She glanced at Sakura before answering.

"I need to ask you a question, Tsunade-sama."

"Ask away." Seeing Anko glancing at Sakura again, this time making it much more obvious, Tsunade felt a twinge of annoyance. "I'm sure that your question can be asked in front of my apprentice, Anko."

"Actually, Tsunade-sama, it can't. It has to do with Naruto's training, and I'm fairly sure that your apprentice isn't allowed to know about it." Tsunade's eyes widened slightly, and Anko nodded.

"So you really agreed to help him… Sakura, I'm going to have to ask you to leave for a moment."

"What! If it's about Naruto's training, I want to know what's wrong! You can't just--"

"Sakura! Just do what I told you to!" Although she didn't like it, she knew that Tsunade wasn't about to give in to her request, so she left the office and pressed her ear up against the closed door. The guards spotted her though, so she was forced to wait a good ten feet away. Back inside the office, Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Anko. "What happened?"

"Relax, Tsunade-sama, nothing happened. I'm just a little bit curious about the seal…"

"And you think _I_ know about it?"

"No, that's not what I meant. I took a look at it myself, and it looks like it's set up so that the Kyuubi chakra can leak out at all times. My question was whether or not that could be causing his chakra control to be more difficult."

"Maybe… What prompted you to look at the seal?"

"He seems to have trouble with keeping his chakra flow consistent. Sometimes it's very strong, and sometimes it's barely there at all."

"That sounds like a problem… I may have a temporary solution though, if it's really an issue with the seal."

"A… solution?" Tsunade smirked, causing Anko to smirk as well. She suddenly understood exactly what the solution was.

* * *

"Oi, Naruto! I'm back!" Tenzou found it odd that Naruto didn't even look up, but Anko seemed unfazed. "I brought someone who should be able to help with your chakra control, but if you aren't even polite enough to introduce yourself I should probably just call the whole thing off." Naruto instantly looked up to see Anko standing next to Tenzou (or "Yamato," as Tsunade had told him to call himself), then dropped his balloon and ran over.

"No, don't do that!" He turned to Yamato, whose look betrayed surprise at the odd student-teacher relationship. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage!"

"Hi Naruto, I'm Yamato. It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah! Thanks for helping with my training!" Yamato smiled and nodded before turning to Anko.

"I suppose I should get set up as soon as possible?" Seeing Anko nod, he sat down a ways away from Naruto and prepared to keep Kyuubi's chakra under control.

"Anko-chan, how exactly is he going to help?"

"Hmm…" /_Of course, even an idiot would eventually figure out that Kyuubi's chakra is less troublesome while Tenzou's around… Naruto probably won't, though._/ "You don't really need to know that. It's enough to know that he'll be helping." Naruto wasn't really happy with that response, but he knew that he wasn't going to be getting anything else out of her, and he didn't really care all that much anyway.

Resuming his training, Naruto was surprised to find that his chakra was much more manageable, and that he was having no trouble in keeping the strength constant. There didn't seem to be any benefit in terms of the rotation issue, but the instantaneous improvement was enough for him to know that Yamato's help was going to be important.

After seeing that Naruto was already getting better, Anko grabbed her book and walked over to stand next to Yamato. "So that was the problem after all?"

"Yeah, the situation was pretty bad."

"How bad is 'pretty bad?'"

"I wasn't expecting anywhere near that amount of chakra to have been leaking out… Worst case scenario: the seal might be weakening."

"_Weakening_? How could the seal be weakening?"

"I don't know, but it looks like it is. It isn't enough to raise any major concerns yet, but I'll tell Tsunade-sama about it just in case."

"Are you going to have any trouble keeping it in check?"

"There shouldn't be any problems."

Naruto's training _did_ become much more effective with Yamato's help, but Anko still didn't think it was going quite well enough. Considering the kind of people that Naruto was bound to end up fighting, his rate of growth was still next to nothing. She had an idea to give him some extra motivation, but decided to give him a couple more days first.

* * *

"So we're really just gonna come out and ask him?"

"We don't really have any other choice, Ino. If we dance around the issue for too long, Anko will start paying attention and intervene. Our best bet is to get it out of him quickly so that she can't stop him from telling us."

"But… even _Naruto_ isn't stupid enough to tell us something that he doesn't want us to know!"

"We'll just have to hope that he _is_…"

They all became quiet when Naruto came into view, not wanting to be overheard. Upon coming closer to him, they realized one very important problem: there was another person besides Anko helping Naruto with his training. At least, they _assumed_ he was helping, even though he was just sitting in the middle of a circle of odd wooden posts with his hand outstretched. It wasn't difficult for them to conclude that their plan was doomed, as this man was paying far more attention to Naruto than Anko was, and probably knew the secret as well.

"What, you guys again? You don't do this _every_ week, do you?" Ignoring Anko, Shikamaru had an idea. He didn't think it likely to work, but it was better than nothing.

"Oi, Naruto, we need to talk to you alone for a second." He could see that Anko and Yamato were already suspicious, but he didn't think he had given anything away.

"No way Shikamaru! I'm in the middle of my training right now!"

"We're just asking for a moment of your time…"

"So talk to me here!"

"That really isn't a good idea, Naruto…" He glanced again at Anko and Yamato, which made them even more suspicious. The only reason that Naruto's friends would want to talk to him without Anko or Yamato there was that they were trying to get something out of him, and it was all too obvious that it was information about Kyuubi that they were after. Naruto didn't really know any other secrets, after all.

"If you guys have anything to say to Naruto, you can say it in front of us."

"Actually, Anko-sensei, this is somewhat personal, so--"

"Like I care… You're being too suspicious; there's no way I can leave you alone with him now."

"You can't just follow him around wherever he goes if he doesn't want you to!"

"Why not? You seem to do it quite often…" None of them could think of a valid response to that, even if they didn't like the sound of it, so they just stayed quiet.

It surprised them that Yamato didn't come to lunch, but he had plans of his own. Throughout the meal the only people that spoke were Mabui, Anko, and Naruto, which even Mabui found somewhat suspicious. She didn't mention anything though, and the ten teens quietly followed Naruto and Anko back to the place where Yamato was waiting. They came to a silent agreement on the way that they should just ask him, even if Yamato and Anko were there. Sakura, as the one that cared the most, was the one to speak up.

"Naruto, can I ask you something?" Although Naruto looked somewhat suspicious, his answer was in his normal cheerful tone.

"What is it, Sakura-chan?" At that point she realized that she wasn't really sure what to ask.

"Well…" /_Okay, I need a question that will get him to tell me the secret without realizing that he's doing it…_/ "Why did that guy at the dango shop think you killed his family?" Naruto suddenly froze, indicating that she had asked the wrong question. The look on his face told her that he knew exactly what she was trying to find out, even if he didn't know why. To them the anxious silence seemed to hang forever, but his reply actually came fairly quickly.

"That's… that's nothing, Sakura-chan! Don't worry about it…"

"Come on Naruto, just tell us! We're just trying to--"

"Oi, brats!" Anko was getting extremely annoyed with their constant attempts to bother him, and this was definitely crossing the line. "It's forbidden for him to tell you that, and even if it wasn't he would never let you know. Just shut up and let him get back to his training!"

"We don't care if it's forbidden, damn it! We need to know!" Anko turned her attention to Ino, hoping to quash the rebellious attitude right there and then, to see a very unwelcome sight: the seal for shintenshin no jutsu. It wasn't aimed at Naruto, but it was still a very bad sign. "Naruto, if you don't tell us right now I swear I'll just go in your head and find out for myself!"

"You idiot! Didn't anyone ever tell you not to use that technique on him? There's no telling what could happen!"

"Then just tell us, Anko-sensei!" Seeing no sign that an explanation was on its way, Ino aimed her seal at Naruto to show that she was serious. Anko, thinking it over, realized that Naruto was hardly the type to know that shintenshin no jutsu is a slow-moving technique, meaning that he was unlikely to even _try_ to avoid it.

Then Ino did something that shocked everyone, including her: she actually used the technique. She wanted to know what the secret was so badly that she was actually willing to call the bluff. As it turned out, Anko was entirely correct about Naruto's knowledge of the technique, meaning that he just stood there with a horrified look on his face while Ino used it.

Luckily, for everyone, Anko managed to push Naruto out of the way in time, despite the fact that she had been more then ten feet away. Unluckily, Ino's technique hit her instead, and everyone attributed her body's slumping over to the fact that she had just body-slammed a 2,000 pound boy hard enough to actually move him several feet. When she realized that she was in Anko's body, Ino allowed herself a grin. She was in the _perfect_ spot to hit Naruto with the technique, and he didn't even realize it!

Yamato, noting the grin, knew that something was off. While it was entirely within Anko's character to grin after causing Ino to miss, the grin had been distinctly non-Anko in nature. Anko's grins were usually much darker, which he knew could mean only one thing: Ino was in Anko's body. He quickly realized that she was within feet of Naruto, ran up behind her, and made sure that it was impossible for her hands to come together.

"What do you think you're doing? Let go!"

"Not until you release the technique." A few eyebrows rose, but they quickly lowered when their owners realized what he was implying.

"Kuso… How'd you know?"

"The grin gave you away; it wasn't sinister enough. Now hurry up and release the technique."

"How am I supposed to do that without a hand seal?"

"Oh, good point…" Ignoring everyone sweat-dropping, he turned her around so that it was impossible for her to aim the technique at Naruto before allowing her hands enough freedom to make the seal.

"**Kai!**" Anko's body again slumped forward, but Yamato didn't let go until both Anko and Ino regained consciousness. At that point he positioned himself between Ino and Naruto, and waited for Anko to join him. When she did join him they stood side-by-side, glaring at Ino in silence for a few moments, before Yamato began scolding her.

"That was by far the _stupidest_ thing I've ever seen! Do you have a death wish or something? Anko warned you that it was dangerous, and I know you heard her. What were you _thinking_?"

"I--"

"I'll tell you what she was thinking." Anko couldn't resist joining in if it was going to make Ino feel worse. "She was thinking that, if it was that easy, there was no reason _not_ to ruin her life. Taking Naruto down with her was a bonus, I'm sure."

"But--"

"Don't be so hard on her, Anko. I'm sure she didn't want to ruin her own life; no one's that stupid. Her goal was _clearly_ to kill Naruto and/or any chance he ever had at being happy."

"What--"

"I don't know about that Yamato. These kids today…"

"Would you just--"

"Listen Ino, this is important." She found it creepy that Yamato actually remembered her name, even though he had just been briefly introduced to her along with the other nine in the group, but she quieted down all the same. "Using that jutsu on Naruto is an extremely dangerous, completely unpredictable prospect. In a worst case scenario, you could end up causing not only your own death, but the deaths of countless other people as well. There was also the possibility that both of you could have gone completely insane, or that you could have been trapped in his mind, or any number of other things that are just as bad. I can't imagine that your father never told you not to use the technique on Naruto, but even if he didn't you know now."

"Deaths…?"

"Yamato, you shouldn't have told her that… Now there's a chance that they'll figure it out, which would be _very_ bad news for you." He just shrugged, confident that that hadn't been nearly enough information for them to figure it out. Anko turned her attention back to Ino with a sigh. "As for you… Regardless of the danger, you had no right to do that. Even if your technique _is_ a spying technique, that doesn't mean that you can use it to get your hands on _Konoha's_ classified information. Besides that, using it on a comrade is completely unethical. I don't really know in what capacity you and Naruto could be considered "friends," but I don't know why he puts up with someone that respects him as little as you do. If I were him I probably would have attacked you by now, just to get you to leave me alone."

"Anko, don't you think that's going a bit far?"

"No Yamato, I really don't. She's constantly trying to get him to stop training, despite the fact that he's a ninja, and now she's shown that she has little or no concern for his safety. That isn't exactly the type of person you want hanging around you, is it?"

"Well, no…"

Ino, feeling thoroughly bad about herself and what she had done, let her head fall. Although she earnestly hoped that neither of them ever had children, as they were both far too good at guilt trips, she knew what she had to do. "I'm sorry…"

"What was that?" Anko was having a little too much fun torturing her.

"I'm sorry, okay!"

"Who exactly are you apologizing to?" Ino moaned in frustration, causing Anko to form a wide grin.

"Naruto, I'm sorry that I tried to use shintenshin on you." It was practically mumbled, and it didn't sound sincere in the least, but Naruto couldn't help but grin at hearing _her_ apologizing to _him_. As he thought about it, he wasn't entirely sure that anyone had ever apologized to him before.

"That's okay, Ino-chan… As long as you don't do it again, anyway." She nodded half-heartedly before nervously turning her attention back to Anko and Yamato. While she took Yamato's smile as a good sign, Anko's smile struck her as a very bad one.

"Well, now that that's over, let's get back to the training!"

"Yamato, I think you're forgetting the part where we make sure that she actually leaves."

"Why would we do that, Anko?"

"What do you mean 'why would we do that?' You saw what she did, didn't you? She's a security risk!"

"I don't think she's going to try it again any time soon, given the way she reacted when I told her what could happen. Besides, Tsunade-sama _did_ give her the day off so that she could spend it with Naruto, so we're probably not allowed to force her to leave…"

"You're kidding, right? After something like _that_ you don't think that we can force her to leave?"

He raised his hands defensively, "if you want to deal with Tsunade-sama's reaction, feel free to remove her yourself. All I'm saying is that Tsunade-sama must have had a reason for doing it, and Ino doesn't seem to be posing any further threat, so you might get in trouble if you don't let her stay…" Anko looked back and forth between Yamato and Ino a few times before deciding that it wasn't worth the probable backlash. She then turned to Ino and adopted the most murderous look of her life.

"Alright, you can stay, but try anything and you'll be dealing with _me_." Seeing the desired reaction on Ino's face, Anko calmly walked back over to her book and began reading again.

* * *

"Okay Ino-pig, what the hell was that?"

"I already said I was sorry! What do you want from me?"

"It'd be nice to know what you could have possibly been thinking, to start with."

"We need to know the secret, don't we? Shikamaru said that asking Naruto was our last chance, and he wasn't gonna tell us…" Sakura turned her glare to Shikamaru, who let out a big sigh.

"You know, I never said that that was our _last_ option. Don't put words in my mouth…"

"Wait, you're saying there's more we can do?" Everyone was looking at Shikamaru curiously, which caused him to sigh again.

"I didn't say that…"

"So… you're saying that we should just go ahead without knowing the secret?" He shook his head, which made Ino even angrier. "Then what the hell are you saying?"

"That what you did was stupid and your reason for doing it was an unfounded assumption."

"Okay, I get it already! How many times do I have to say that I'm sorry?"

"I'd say that that about covers it…" Her head fell again, which made everyone else feel a little bit better. After a solid minute of silence, Tenten surprised everyone by speaking.

"Did anyone else feel like something was different from last time?"

"Well, yeah…" The fact that Kiba was the first to answer her surprised everyone even more, but he just wanted to hear himself talk. He had been silent most of the day, after all. "But there _was_ an extra person there, so--"

"Even so, it felt less…" Neji searched for the right word, "ominous. Perhaps we _were_ just imagining things…"

"No we weren't!" Everyone looked over at Ino, surprised that her embarrassment had subsided so quickly. "Don't forget that Asuma-sensei felt it too!"

"That's true…" All eyes quickly found their way to Shikamaru again, an all too common occurrence in his opinion.

"Fine, I'll ask Asuma about it the next time we play shougi…" /_These guys are so troublesome… Can't they do anything by themselves?_/

* * *

Coming into the clearing to start his training for the day, Naruto was discomforted by Anko's disturbing grin. The idea that she had gotten there before him was odd enough, as she usually showed up at least fifteen minutes after he did, but her grin was just too much. Yamato's look of curiosity only amplified Naruto's fears.

"Good morning, Naruto!"

"Er… Good morning, Anko-chan. You too, Yamato…" Yamato nodded, but didn't lose his curious look. Not wanting to ask what was going on, Naruto went to grab a water balloon, but was stopped by Anko.

"Actually Naruto, there's been a small change in plans."

"Eh?"

"Your training isn't going quite as well as I had hoped, so we're going to do something different!" Yamato looked even _less_ sure about what was going on, which did nothing to make Naruto feel better. Anko's grin widened at the looks on their faces. "To help with your chakra control training, you and I are gonna have a little race!"

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry about the title, but I couldn't resist. Akamaru didn't even get mentioned in this chapter, now that I think about it, but I'm still leaving his mention in the title. I'm also sorry if Naruto's inspirational speech didn't come out all that well, but it was the best I could do. My life hasn't been _nearly_ terrible enough for me to be the inspirational type…

I was listening to "The Hampsterdance Song" and "Safety Dance" a lot while writing this (which may be part of the reason that it took _way_ longer than expected to write), but I hope that those songs didn't influence my writing at all… If they did, please let me know so that I can stop listening to them (or at least listen to them less).

You may be wondering why everyone (especially Tsunade) is so against the rookie nine and team Gai learning about Kyuubi, despite the fact that Kakashi talked about it to a ninja from Suna right in front of Sakura in the manga. There are a few reasons that I feel are valid, in addition to the obvious "I don't want them to know yet, but I want them to be thinking about it." The first reason is just that Kakashi is way more lax about that kind of thing than anyone else, so it stands to reason that he wouldn't mind letting Sakura and Chiyo know. Also, when you think about it, the idea behind the law was to keep people at Naruto's age-level from discriminating against him, and there's really no guarantee that their opinions of him wouldn't change after they find out. Then you have to consider that they could manipulate him with the knowledge, and that the Akatsuki scare was more recent at this point than in the Gaara retrieval arc of the manga…

Moving on, I'm glad that so many of you like this fic, even if there have (finally) been a few flames. While I'm on the subject of flames, please don't bother to flame, as I'll just ignore it. Getting back to the good reviews, I find it a little odd that some of you have said this is your _favorite_ story (have you not read Never Cut Twice?), but I'm not complaining. Some of your comments can be really fun to read. My favorite comment so far was "Burn, Ankoku, BURN!" by LordVicious. Not enough people hated Ankoku…

Anyway, on to the Q&A!

Did Anko being related to Mabui surprise you? If not, I _demand_ that you tell me what gave it away.

Does it bother you that the English spelling is "tempura" as much as it bothers me? Despite the fact that it's "tenpura (天麩羅)" in the original Japanese…

Is it completely obvious what Anko's idea is?

That's really all I've got to ask you for this chapter, and the second question isn't even really feedback… Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it! Please review!


	8. Out Of The Shadows

**Prove the Pervert Wrong**

**Chapter Eight: Out Of The Shadows**

**Disclaimer: We're on the eight chapter and you need me to tell you again? Well, whatever, I still don't own Naruto…**

"Speech"

/_Thoughts_/

"**Jutsu!**"

* * *

**Pre-Chapter A/N:** Boy, is my face red… I was reading through the manga, looking for references to people other than Yondaime using shunshin no jutsu, and everything went fine until chapter 222 (page seven). Because I remembered a review (from Truth Is What You Make Of It) mentioning Shisui as using shunshin, I decided to check the raw just to be safe. I now know that it's because of a bad translation that I got confused, because my translated manga reads "Shisui of the mirage," but the actual Japanese reads "shunshin no Shisui." I even checked the kanji out, and it is indeed the same kanji that was used in Rin's speech bubble in page ten of chapter 240. While this doesn't necessarily mean that it's a common technique, it _does_ mean that it wasn't unique to Yondaime, which means that it doesn't matter if it's common, because I was wrong either way. My apologies for any confusion I may have caused with my misinformation.

All of that said, this fic isn't changing. We have _definitely_ crossed the line of no return on that one. If that ruins the story for you, don't read it. Future fics (excluding the sequel to this fic) will not be featuring that mistake, if they ever come into existence.

Without any further adieu, on to the fic!

* * *

"A… race?" Naruto looked at Yamato again, hoping to see an answer in the man's face, but there was none to be found. "What kind of race?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Anko's grin became even wider, so that her mouth looked to be almost as wide as her head. "We'll be racing to see who can pop the balloon first!" After a moment of blankly staring at her, Naruto's face contorted in rage.

"_What_! You were just trying to learn the rasengan all this time? I thought--"

"Oi, shut up for a second! I never said I'm going to be learning the rasengan! Your overreaction is taking all the fun out of this…"

"You're not trying to learn the rasengan…?" A few minutes of silence passed by as Naruto considered what she had said, trying to decide whether or not she was telling the truth. Eventually he realized that, even if she had been trying to get the training methods from him, she wouldn't have needed to let him know about it at all, let alone challenge him to a race. "But… how is that gonna help my training?"

"Heh…" /_The fun returns…_/ "That's for me to know. There's a special condition to this race though, and you're gonna hate it."

"'Special condition?'" He again turned his gaze to Yamato, this time hoping to see a mirror of his own confusion on the man's face. As though to spite him, Yamato no longer looked confused, and was even grinning. "What _kind_ of special condition?"

"Oh, it's not terribly important… It's just that, if I figure it out before you do, I'm not going to help with your training anymore."

"WHAT! Why not?"

"Because you won't be interesting enough anymore."

"But you're a special jounin! Of course you're gonna get it faster than I will!"

"That won't make any difference, idiot." Seeing that he was utterly confused, she couldn't help but become a little happier. "It's true that I'm more experienced than you, and that I have better chakra control, but you still have the advantage in this race. This is a way of using chakra that I've never learned. I don't know how long you spent figuring out your little kage bunshin trick with Jiraiya, but even without that time you have a week's head start over me. Combine that with the fact that you've used the completed technique before, not to mention that your stamina will allow you to train more each day then I'll be able to, and it'll be absolutely pathetic if I beat you to the punch. If you really have that little skill then you won't be interesting to me, regardless of how many strong techniques you develop."

"You can't do that!" Naruto looked pleadingly at Yamato for a few seconds, but the man's grin indicated that he had little sympathy for the boy's plight. "I still need your help! How the hell am I supposed to--"

"Not my problem. Our deal was that I help you as long as you stay interesting. If you really want my help so badly…" She tossed him a water balloon, "you'll just have to earn it!"

"But…" /_Chikushou! She's the best chance I have… I can't screw this up! I won't!_/ Naruto formed a grin of his own, taking Anko and Yamato by surprise. "Heh, no problem! I'm gonna be the strongest ninja in Konoha, so there's no _way_ I'd lose to some washed-up special jounin!"

"Let's just see you back that up, Naruto!"

Yamato, as he was getting ready to control the Kyuubi chakra once more, couldn't help but admire Anko's plan. /_Taking advantage of the fact that he's overestimating his need for her to increase his drive, reminding him of the difficulty of his goal, and getting his mind off of yesterday's events all in one go… And she _still_ manages to be a convincing actress! I wonder if she'll be able to do well enough to keep him on edge though, with such a high level technique…_/ "Hey, wait a second…"

"What is it Yamato?"

"Anko, didn't you say that he'd be doing something different?"

"No, I said _we'd_ be doing something different! I never said that he was a part of the 'we' that I was referring to."

"But that still doesn't make any sense… You're the only one that's doing anything different." He grinned at the embarrassed look on her face. "Did you not think that through carefully enough before saying it?"

"Shut up and get back to work!" /_Bastard…_/

A few hours later, Anko had to admit that it really _was_ hard. She had originally been planning to go easy on him, always staying just a bit ahead of him, but the way things were going it was going to take her a few days at the least, even if she did her best. Although she knew that the rasengan was out of her league, she hadn't expected the control portion of it to be quite that difficult. Her plan was entirely necessary though, as his progress up to that point had been far too slow for him to catch up to Orochimaru in two years.

* * *

Wednesday rolled by, and Anko was finally getting the hang of the rotation. She was by no means popping the balloon, but she was glad to find that she had been right about most of the difficulty being in the other parts of the technique. The rotation was hard, but not nearly hard enough to constitute an A-rank technique on its own.

Naruto was also doing much better, but he was still disappointing her somewhat. Luckily, Anko had one more ace up her sleeve: Mabui. She still didn't know what about Mabui being there helped Naruto with his training, but she didn't care in the least. The fact of the matter was that Mabui helped, and Naruto needed it. Arriving right on cue, Mabui adopted her usual smile.

"Hey Naruto! Anko! What's--" She froze on spotting Yamato, who looked suspicious sitting in the center of his circle of wooden posts. "Who the hell is that?"

"That's Yamato! He's helping with my training!"

"He's helping…?" /_How exactly does that help?_/ "Well… it's nice to meet you, Yamato-san! I'm Mabui!"

"It's nice to meet you too, Mabui-san…" /_What's with the change in attitude?_/

"So… what's the training today, Naruto?" Naruto's head fell in embarrassment.

"I'm still trying to get the balloon to pop..."

"Why do you seem so disappointed? There've been plenty of things that took you more than a week before this…"

"He's disappointed," Anko grinned, which Mabui knew was a bad thing, "because I'm catching up." Mabui's look of confusion just added to the satisfaction Anko was getting out of the situation.

"'Catching up?' Catching up in what?"

"Oh, that's right, he's avoided mentioning it around you…" /_I _love_ being me!_/ "Well, Naruto and I are having a little race!"

"A… race?" It didn't take long for Mabui to put two and two together, and when she did her expression became exactly what Anko had hoped it would be. "You were just using him to learn the rasengan? I can't believe--"

"Oi, calm down! That's not it at all!" /_The same reaction… Do I really come off as _that_ kind of person?_/ "There is a nice catch though, which I'm sure you'll find interesting." Mabui took a moment to process Anko's claim that she wasn't just trying to learn the rasengan, eventually reaching the same conclusion that Naruto had reached.

"What kind of catch? Why should he care about this race, anyway?"

"Because, Mabui…" Anko slowly widened her grin, wanting to be as overdramatic as possible. "If he can't get it faster than me, I'm not going to help him anymore!"

"But…" /_That seems so asinine… If he's already better than her, why would he want her help?_/ She glanced at Yamato, who nodded once he was sure that Naruto wasn't looking. Deciding that there had to have been some reason that she wasn't getting, she remained silent.

Yamato, seeing that she wasn't getting the point of the race (which was understandable, given that she wasn't a ninja), decided to give her a hint. "You know, Mabui-san, it would really be bad for Naruto to lose the opportunity to train with Anko… If you want him to grow stronger, you should do your best to cheer him on." Although she still didn't appreciate the real point of the race, Mabui at least picked up on the fact that there was an underlying plan.

"Of course! There's no way Naruto'll lose to someone like _Anko_!"

Within minutes it became apparent that Mabui's presence was definitely helping Naruto as much as, if not more than, expected. Naruto gained a significant lead over Anko, and he looked to be well on his way to completing the training. Not wanting to be left behind, Anko redoubled her own efforts in an attempt to catch up to him for real. Even if she didn't want to actually beat him, she didn't want to be left in the dust.

* * *

It was an hour after lunch on Thursday, and Anko's grin couldn't have been any smugger than it was at that moment. She was finally catching up to Naruto. More importantly, they were both nearing the point at which they would be able to pop the balloon, which meant that her plan was working perfectly. Right when she was about to start holding back, for fear of actually beating him, she heard a very welcome sound: his balloon had popped.

"I won?" Naruto looked over at Anko to see that her balloon was still intact before forming one of the biggest grins of his life. "I won, Mabui-chan! I won! Yatta!" He spent a few minutes jumping up and down, shouting "yatta" over and over, before he turned his grin to Anko. "I beat you, so now you have to keep helping with my training! You'd better not try to weasel out of it!"

"Heh…" /_His mind jumps back and forth so much…_/ "I won't be weaseling out of anything; you don't have to worry about that."

"Yatta! Now we can move on to my new technique! It's gonna be--"

"What are you on about? You still haven't mastered the rasengan, and we're not moving on to your new technique until you do."

"What! But you said that we were just working on my chakra control! The rotation part is where all of the control problems are!" Her grin was causing him more anger than what she was saying, even if he didn't realize it.

"You think so, do you? If that's really the case, all you have to do to move on to your technique is create a rasengan with one hand…"

"Er…" He had been bluffing, of course. As far as he could remember, the third step was the hardest by far. "No problem! I'll have it down before you can blink!"

"Oh?" Not letting her grin leave her face, Anko blinked and looked at him expectantly. "That's odd… I don't see it." He just glared at her for a moment before turning his attention to his hand and taking a deep breath.

In trying to form the rasengan, he found that there were definitely problems. When his bunshin had introduced the rotation, the rotation and power had come from different sources, so getting the two elements to work together was a simple feat. Now that they were both originating in the same place, things were much more complicated.

The main issue was concentration. His previous methodology had allowed the bunshin to focus on _only_ the rotation, while he was focusing on _only_ power. Even in the situations where he had created the rasengan without a kage bunshin, using the two-handed method, each hand had only had one job. This new situation was requiring him to concentrate on releasing a large amount of chakra, then immediately switch over to rotating that chakra, all with the same hand. It was easier said than done.

His first few tries yielded absolutely nothing, but that didn't really surprise anyone except Mabui. After about an hour he managed to create a pseudo-rasengan, similar to the one that he had tried to use on Tsunade. When Anko saw that, her jaw almost dropped.

"You got it _already_?"

"No." He didn't even consider lying to her, not wanting to back away from the challenge. "This isn't a real rasengan."

"Oh…" /_What's _that_ supposed to mean?_/ "Okay…"

After some time went by, Naruto was amazed that the training was much easier than he remembered it being. Even with the concentration problem, he was still progressing extremely quickly. Another thing that seemed odd to him was that, no matter how many times he tried to use the technique, he didn't get tired. Figuring that his training had significantly boosted his chakra capacity, he just kept on training.

Finally, at eleven forty-five, he got it right. "Yatta! I finally did it!" Anko looked up at him to see a rasengan sitting on his hand.

"Did _what_? It looks _exactly_ like all of the other ones you've been making!"

"Yeah, but this one's real!"

"Er… If you say so…" She didn't want to question that statement, considering that she didn't know the rasengan. Yamato looked happy to have a break anyway. "I guess that's all we're gonna do today, then."

"What! But we need to start--"

"Working on your technique, I know! Can't you say anything else?"

"But--"

"Naruto, do you really think you're going to make any kind of progress in fifteen minutes? I'm not staying out here any longer than that." His head fell, letting her know that he was giving up on the idea. Anko smiled, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit. She didn't want her mind games to _actually_ screw him up. "Just be glad to get some extra sleep!"

* * *

"Oh no…" Entering the clearing, Naruto was _not_ happy to see that Anko had gotten there early again. Her grin told him that it was probably something very unpleasant.

"Good morning, Naruto!" Naruto turned to Yamato, expecting to see the same confused look that he had seen on Sunday morning. Never one to meet Naruto's expectations, Yamato was grinning again.

"What're you making me do now, Anko-chan?"

"I'm glad you asked!" She did her best to keep her grin from widening, not wanting to come off as _completely_ sadistic. "There's one last thing that you're going to have to do before we get to your real training."

"What! Why can't we just--"

"Oi, listen for a second!" Naruto instantly fell silent at the harsh tone, just like he always did. "All you have to do is get the rasengan working while Yamato isn't helping you."

"That's it?" His grin made a triumphant return. "I already got the rasengan down! This won't be hard at all!"

"Then quit talking and do it!" /_So he still hasn't figured out how Yamato was helping… It figures…_/

Naruto concentrated chakra into his hand, released it, and began rotating it. Everything went fine until the chakra actually left his hand, at which point he noticed something very strange: his chakra was, for lack of a better word, lumpy. Every so often there would be a rather large surge of chakra, and just as often there would be next to nothing coming out. Needless to say: the technique didn't work.

"What…" He turned to Yamato, "what did you _do_?"

"You still don't know?" Yamato thought about telling him for a second, but decided it was better to leave him in the dark. "I just made your chakra easier to manage… Nothing's changed, in case you're wondering; this is how your chakra normally acts."

"This…" Naruto processed that statement for a few seconds, "my chakra has _always_ been this way? Why didn't I ever notice?"

"Probably because you were so used to it."

"Listen up Naruto, this is important." Anko instantly had Naruto's attention. "There were too many problems with your control for you to have fixed them all at once. Having Yamato here was a quick way to get around one of the problems while you worked on one of the others, but now you need to work on getting rid of that problem altogether."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why?'"

"Why do I have to get rid of the problem if Yamato can fix it?" Anko and Yamato let out simultaneous heavy sighs at that.

"Because, Naruto, Yamato can't always be there to help you. If you want to get stronger, you're going to have to stop relying on others so much. The problem that Yamato was helping with is by far the most severe, and it can only be worse now that you're used to not having to deal with it, so you'll need to get rid of it before moving on."

"Relying on others…?" /_Do I really do that?_/

"It's true that teamwork is important, but there's a difference between teamwork and total dependence. Your goals all involve being the strongest around, so you'll need to be able to do things on your own. Raw power won't do you any good; hurry up and get it under control!"

Searching his memory, Naruto was shocked to find that he _had_ relied a lot on other people. Be it Kakashi, Sasuke, Jiraiya, Tsunade… There were too many situations in which he had relied completely on someone else's help. His eyes suddenly became very serious, which Anko knew was a good sign. "I won't…" He gathered chakra into his hand again, "rely on anyone!"

The fact that he failed again took away some of the coolness in what he had said, but he didn't give up. Although it took him several hours, he eventually realized that there were warning signs when his chakra was about to act differently. He was actually able to use it to his advantage, timing the release of power in such a way that the rotation would be initiated during one of the surges. While he wasn't really _ridding_ himself of the problem, he still felt confident that it wouldn't be an issue.

"I did it!" Naruto held out his new rasengan for Anko and Yamato to see, as if they didn't believe him.

"Good timing: I was about to tell you that we're going to lunch." She turned to Yamato, "I guess that means you're done here. Thanks for helping out."

"It was no problem…" He stood up, preparing to leave. "While it was a little tiring at first, this was basically a little vacation for me."

"You're leaving?" Naruto hadn't been expecting that at all.

"There's really no point in my staying any longer, Naruto. You don't need my help any more, and it would be bad for you to get too used to having it. Besides, I have missions waiting, so I can't just stay here and help you forever."

"Oh… Thanks!" Yamato just smiled and nodded before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Anko got his attention again before speaking. "Just remember: even after all of that, your control isn't anything special. It's your biggest weakness, and you'll need to keep working to improve it."

"Nothing special! But it's so much better now!"

"That's because it was ridiculously bad before! At your current level, I'd say you're about average for a chuunin."

"Average?" /_All of that work and I'm only average?_/

"Don't worry about it too much, though. Your greatest strength is that you have a lot of chakra to work with, so even having an average level of control means you can outlast most people that have better control. Now come on, let's get something to eat!"

"Yoshi!"

* * *

"Alright, now that we've had lunch I guess it's time to decide on your new training schedule. I assume that you want to specialize in ninjutsu?"

"'Specialize?' Why would I want to specialize in anything? Won't that just mean that I'll lose if I come up against the wrong opponent?" Anko's hand found its familiar place on the bridge of her nose.

"I don't mean _absolute_ specialization! There's no such thing as a truly all-around ninja; everyone specializes in _something_. Even jounin, who are expected to have high levels of skill in all areas, all have one area that they're best in."

"That makes sense… Yeah, I guess I want to focus on ninjutsu."

"Okay then, we'll have to weight your schedule accordingly. Taijutsu will still be important though, considering the way you fight…" She took a moment to think about it, during which her expression left Naruto unnerved. That she was concentrating that hard didn't strike him as a good thing. "Yoshi! I know exactly what we should do!" Her exclamation was followed by a period of long silence, causing Naruto to sweat-drop.

"And that would be…?"

"Four days for ninjutsu, two for taijutsu, and one for whatever I feel you need to work on at the time. I would put more time into what I think you need to learn, but I'll be influencing all of your other training anyway. We can always change it, so it's not a big deal."

"It took you that long to think of that?" He grinned at her anger, glad that he could still annoy her easily. She decided to ignore his question.

"If what you told me about your muscles not getting tired is true, there's really no need to separate your taijutsu training days, and putting them together should help you stay focused anyway. Keeping that in mind, I think the best idea would be taijutsu on Saturday and Sunday, ninjutsu Monday through Thursday, and my pick on Friday."

"Uh…"

"I decided what training goes to what day based on my desire to have you do taijutsu on Saturdays, if that's what you were going to ask."

"Why'd you want me to do taijutsu on Saturdays?" She grinned, which told him that it wasn't a purely logical reason.

"Because that's the day when those idiots bug you, and I don't want them to see you working on your new techniques. They're annoying as hell." Naruto couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Yeah, that's a pretty good reason."

"So they _do_ annoy you… Why don't you just tell them to buzz off? They bug you every chance they get, and they all seem fairly self-centered. I don't get why you put up with them at all…"

"I put up with them…" he got a far off look in his eyes, "because they put up with me." Anko didn't want to touch that topic with a ten foot pole, so she decided to wait a few moments and then change the subject.

"Okay, you've been talking about it for two weeks, so let's hear it: what's your new jutsu idea?" His faraway look was instantly replaced by one of excitement.

"Oh yeah! It's gonna be _so_ _cool_!" She raised an eyebrow at that, wondering how something that he had done by accident could possibly be that incredible. "I don't really know how to explain it, though… Basically it's just going to make it so that my chakra extends my attacks. What's cool about it is--"

"What do you mean 'extends?' Explain it more clearly, or I won't be able to help."

"Well, for example: if I throw a punch, my chakra will work like an extension of my arm, meaning that I'll have a longer reach. What's really cool about it is--"

"You want to make _limbs_ out of chakra?" Her eyes widened at the very absurdity of the idea, and they widened even further when she realized something even more important. "You did that on _accident_?"

"Er, sort of…" Naruto really didn't feel like explaining to her that he had been using Kyuubi's chakra at the time. "The really cool thing about it is that the movement of the chakra doesn't have to sync up with the way that I move, meaning that it's completely impossible to predict! Isn't that awesome?"

"Are you INSANE? Do you have _any_ idea how much chakra—the kind of control—on _accident_—that's not even ninjutsu! It's tai—no, it's not even—you're insane!" The lack of coherence in her sentences was causing Naruto mild distress, but Anko was too lost in thought to notice or care. /_What the hell would you even call something like that? It involves molding chakra, so my first instinct would be to call it ninjutsu, but jyuuken uses chakra too, and that's considered a _taijutsu_—Oh…_/ "That's not even a technique, you idiot! It's a taijutsu style!"

Seeing that she seemed to have regained her senses, Naruto took a moment to process what she had said. "Style? How is that a style?" It took her a moment, but eventually Anko realized that _he_ was being calm, and _she_ wasn't. She did her best to correct that problem, taking several deep breaths before responding.

"What you're talking about is a unique set of similar general-purpose physical attacks and defenses dealing with unarmed combat. I defy you to show that that _isn't_ a style."

"But…" He found that, unfortunately, he couldn't think of any reason that it wouldn't be considered a style. "Okay, so it's a style. You're still gonna help me with it, right?"

"Perhaps I didn't make this clear: you're insane. Getting chakra to take a solid form is hard in small amounts; this style you've come up with would not only require extremely large amounts of chakra, but an amazing degree of control over all of that chakra. It's a type of control you're not used to, and it's much, much harder than you probably realize. Even if you have enough chakra to keep that up for more than a few minutes, which is doubtful, your control is nowhere near that level."

"I already told you: I've done it before!"

"Oh yeah…" Catching the serious look in his eyes, she came to a very unpleasant conclusion. "You're not giving up on this, are you?"

"Nope."

"If I say that I won't help you with it, are you gonna ditch me and try it on your own?"

"Yep." Letting out a big sigh, she grabbed the bridge of her nose and slowly shook her head. After a moment of considering all the options, she decided on the best course of action.

"This style does sound like it would be pretty useful, so I'll help you if you'll agree to a few conditions."

"_More_ conditions? What is it with you and all these conditions?"

"Nothing's free… These conditions are pretty reasonable, so don't get too upset about them. The first one is just that, if this takes too long for you to develop, you'll agree to move on to something else."

"What! That's not _reasonable_!"

"So you're saying that it's reasonable to bet your life, as well as the Uchiha kid's, on a style that takes you so long to develop that you can't work on anything else?" He spent a few moments in indecision before shaking his head. Although he really wanted to have a cool ability like that, he didn't want to sacrifice any lives for that cause. "Good! My only other condition is that you don't tell those ten morons who keep bugging you anything about the technique."

"Your condition is that I don't tell my friends?" She nodded, a big grin on her face. "Why?"

"Well, for one thing, shinobi aren't supposed to tell people about all of their techniques and abilities. If you want to know the real reason, though… I don't like the way they treat you. So, do you agree or not?"

"Yeah, I guess…" He was a little disappointed that he wouldn't be able to brag about it, but he had bigger concerns to deal with.

"Alright then, I guess we only have a few more things to hammer out before getting started." Naruto didn't even bother to voice his dissatisfaction with that, as he had been half-expecting it. Anko was slightly let down. "First: we're going to have to spar occasionally to make sure you're actually getting stronger. I'll find someone else to spar with you after you get stronger than me, and you'll need to be able to beat Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya before you even _think_ about fighting Orochimaru. Second: I'm going to let you know as much as I can about the way that Orochimaru fights, so you're going to have to pay attention." When it became apparent that she was done, Naruto sighed.

"Could you at least write all of this down so I don't have to remember it?"

"No, things are more fun when you don't know what you're doing. Anyway, enough about your schedule; it's time to get to work on your… 'technique.'"

"Yatta!"

* * *

"You really didn't have to come, Asuma…"

"There's no way I'm going to miss seeing _Mitarashi Anko_ helping someone train! Besides, you said that something about Naruto's training felt better, so I want to see what's different."

Shikamaru shrugged, "suit yourself…"

As they approached the familiar training area, everyone noticed that Ino was falling behind. When she came to an actual stop, Sakura became annoyed. "Oi, Ino-pig, what the hell are you waiting for?"

"Er…" Embarrassment was evident on her face, and her blush was intense enough that Asuma wished he had a camera. "I don't really want to see that Anko lady again…"

"Oh, come on, I'm sure it won't be nearly as bad as last time."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Sakura…" The fact that she hadn't called Sakura "Forehead" made everyone else a little uncomfortable. "You know what she did? She told my dad about the incident! Even after that speech from Yamato and Anko, I had to listen to another one from my parents! And that one was over an hour long!"

"'Incident?'" Ino realized a little too late that Asuma was there. "What incident would that be?"

"It was nothing, Asuma-sensei!" He didn't look convinced, so she added, "I already got lectured about it twice, so you don't need to worry about it! Honest!" Asuma continued to eye her suspiciously, but decided against asking about it. If it was so horrible that she didn't even want him to hear her doctored version of it, he didn't want to hear about it at all.

After a few minutes of convincing Ino to come, the group continued on to where they knew Anko and Naruto were. When they arrived, Asuma was the first to notice that something was off. "Shikamaru, I thought you said there was someone else helping him."

"There was…" All ten of them just stood there for several seconds, staring at Naruto, before they realized the other oddity: he wasn't playing with a balloon. Naruto was doing actual physical strength training, which they found far more surprising than Yamato's absence.

"Asuma?" Anko, in looking up from her book, was _not_ happy to see him. "The idiot patrol roped you into helping them?"

"'Idiot patrol?' I take it you're not very fond of them?"

"To put it lightly…"

Asuma discretely moved to stand next to Anko so that their conversation wouldn't be overheard. "They mean well…" He thought about it for a second, "mostly… Considering that they don't know about _that_, I think that most of what they're doing is understandable."

"So you haven't heard yet?"

"Heard what?"

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise to keep your voice down. While I'd love to see that girl get more punishment, I don't want it to affect Naruto's training at all."

"Sure thing…"

"The Yamanaka brat tried to use shintenshin no jutsu on him."

"WH—er, I mean…" All eyes were on him, and Anko didn't look very happy. He waved it off and waited for the kids to turn their focus back to Naruto before continuing. "So that was the 'incident?'"

"Yeah, probably. If that doesn't help you figure out why I dislike them, just watch them for a few minutes. Good intentions or not, they're treating him like a little kid _and_ screwing him over. There's just no excuse for acting that way."

"Don't be so sure about that, Anko…" Seeing her eyebrow raise, he took a long drag on his cigarette. "Something about his training has been giving me a bad feeling ever since I first heard about it. Not only that, when he was training with my team before the chuunin exam started, his chakra was different than usual. It almost seemed like there was some killing intent in it, but that doesn't fit Naruto at all…"

"Oh, is that all you're on about? We already know what's causing that."

"You do?"

"Tenzou said that the seal's weakening, and _that_ chakra can come out more easily than before. That's probably where the killing intent was coming from."

"_Weakening_?"

"Oh, don't worry too much, he said it isn't a very big problem just yet. The biggest problem it's causing at the moment is added difficulty in Naruto's chakra control."

"Does Tsunade-sama know about this?"

"Of course she does! Tenzou's an ANBU, after all."

"Oh, right… Dare I ask how Naruto's training is going?"

"Only if you promise not to tell _them_ about it."

"Eh? They bother you that much?"

"Yeah, they do. Do you wanna know or not?" Asuma nodded, not really caring whether or not he could tell anyone about Naruto's training. "He spent two weeks mastering the rasengan, and now he's got a crazy new idea for an attack that's all but impossible."

"So everything's normal. Wait… Did you say 'mastering the rasengan?'" She nodded, confusing the hell out of him. "Didn't he already know it?" Again she nodded, confusing him even more, but he decided to let it drop. Understanding the mind of Mitarashi Anko was a project that he just wasn't willing to take on.

Using the conversation between Asuma and Anko as cover, the group of ten tried several times to get some information out of Naruto. All attempts ended in failure, as Naruto had no desire to let any of them know about Kyuubi. Shikamaru was the only one who didn't try to get anything out of Naruto, choosing instead to think things through. /_There has to be someone that we haven't thought to ask… All we need is someone that's smart, but not too smart, and they have to know the secret._/ The answer hit him like a ton of feathers. /_Oyaji… Why didn't I think of him before?_/

Deciding to make a point of asking Shikato about it later, Shikamaru turned his attention back to his surroundings just in time to see everyone else standing up. "What's—Naruto, why are you doing a handstand?"

"Pay attention, Shikamaru…" Neither of the boys was surprised to see that Ino was butting into the conversation. "Naruto's going to do some laps around Konoha before lunch, so we're going with him." That didn't really answer his question, but he didn't want to ask again.

* * *

"Oi, Oyaji!" Shikato turned to see his son leaning against the kitchen wall, his arms crossed and his face bored. "I need to ask you something."

"What is it, Shikamaru? I was just about to get some sleep before my next mission…"

"Oh, it's nothing important… Do you remember the first time Naruto came here?" The look on his father's face was more than enough to answer Shikamaru's question. "Why did mom hate Naruto so much, and what made you stand up to her?" Although he was expecting Shikato to get mad or avoid the subject, the man smiled.

"Let's talk about this somewhere else." It took quite a bit of willpower for Shikamaru to resist asking "why," but he didn't want to blow the one chance he was getting to figure everything out. In following his dad, he ended up in a very nostalgic place: the bench where he had first met Chouji. At that point he could no longer hold back the question that was plaguing his mind.

"Why are we _here_?"

"I like the scenery here. It's relaxing, and there's a nice clear view of the sky." He shrugged, "we needed a bit of privacy, and almost no one comes up here these days."

"Ah… So, are you gonna answer my question now?"

"Of course, of course! Don't get so hasty, Shikamaru!" He patted his son on the back a little too hard, but Shikamaru didn't mind. "Your mother's hatred for Naruto… it's not unique. I'm sure you've noticed by now that a lot of people in this village dislike Naruto. Although it shames me to admit it, I used to be one of those people as well."

"_You_ hated Naruto? But you like everyone!"

"There's no such thing as a person that gets along with everyone, Shikamaru. Even if there were though, chances are that they would have hated him along with everyone else."

"That doesn't make any sense… Why does everyone hate him?"

"'Why?' There isn't really a valid reason for me to give you. Unfortunately, all I can offer you is the truth. The people of Konoha hate Naruto for one very simple reason: he saved all of our lives." Shikamaru looked about to interrupt, so Shikato raised a hand. "Knowing you, you're going to ask 'why would they hate someone who saved their lives?' It isn't so much that he saved us as what he saved us _from_. I'm not allowed to tell you who or what it was exactly, and even what I'm telling you is too much, but the important thing is that it was deeply hated by everyone in Konoha."

"Wait, you're still not making any sense… If this thing that he saved us from was so deeply hated, what about saving us from it would make Naruto hated?"

"Human nature, sadly enough. That thing that he saved us from claimed quite a few lives while it was still a threat. Entire families were slaughtered, others were cut into tiny fractions of their former selves, and many people lost friends and loved ones. No one knows what provoked it to attack us, and that just made people hate it even more. You see, Shikamaru, it is human nature to find a target for our hatred. An outlet for all of our pent up anger and stress, something that can take the blame for all of life's problems. Naruto is their scapegoat."

"You just keep making this more and more confusing!"

"Alright, let me say it in the simplest way I can. Naruto, in saving this village, took away the object of our detestation. The single most hated thing in the history of the village of Konoha disappeared instantly, taking with it the people's ability to deal with their rage. Because our hatred needed somewhere to go, Naruto became the new target. The circumstances of his aid helped that transition along somewhat, but the reality of it is that he was just the easiest target at the time. Regardless of their claims to the contrary, _that_ is their reason for hating him."

"That…" Shikamaru's eyes were wide at the idea of such a strong grudge. "That's completely idiotic! Mom hates him for such a ridiculous reason? Even _you_ hated him because of something like that?"

"Hatred isn't a conscious decision, Shikamaru. It's not as though we all woke up one day, gathered together, and said 'Uzumaki Naruto's the one who saved us! Let's hate _him_!' Of course, even if that isn't the case, the results are the same as if it was. When you were in the academy, how many of the children tried to befriend him?"

"…None."

"That's because children learn hatred from their parents. While it's true that there are cases like you, where one or both of the parents explicitly told the child not to talk to Naruto, the fact of the matter is that all the children are affected whether it's intended or not. They see the way that their parents look at him, and instantly know to hate him."

"But… I never felt compelled to hate him, regardless of how mom felt."

"That," Shikato suddenly smiled, "is because you're such a sharp kid, Shikamaru." He rustled Shikamaru's hair for a moment before looking up at the clouds with a big sigh. "You've always had the ability to determine for yourself who makes a good friend, which is why you and Chouji have become so close. You were able to see the value in Chouji that others couldn't see, and you were able to see that there was nothing wrong with Naruto, despite his having grown up the way he did."

"What do you mean by that? He never seemed all that odd growing up…"

"Didn't you know that he's an orphan? His entire life has been spent completely alone, surrounded by nearly-tangible walls of hatred. No one helped him with anything, some stores and restaurants refused to serve him, and I've heard rumors that there were a few attempts on his life when he was little. With a background like his, just graduating from the academy is an amazing accomplishment. If he really managed to seem relatively normal to you, then that's just indicative of his strength."

"He… never said anything…"

"I remember something that my father told me once that I think you should hear. When he told me I considered it to be rather odd, but now it seems fitting. Apparently, long before any of the hidden villages were formed, the way of the ninja was considered to be the art of enduring. In those days, the true measure of a ninja was his ability to endure all of life's hardships." A few moments of silence passed as they both thought about those words while staring at the clouds.

"Oyaji?"

"What is it, Shikamaru?"

"You explained why everyone hates him, but you never explained why you don't hate him anymore. That was part of the question, you know."

"I never got around to that? Well, it's pretty simple. It was back when you were in the academy, actually. Your mother was busy one day, so I had to come and walk you home. When I got there, I saw all of the parents gathered around, glaring at the same person. I came close enough to see who that person was, and it was him. For a while I considered joining in, but then I noticed that you were standing right next to him. From the look on your face, it was obvious that you thought they were all glaring at _you_, and you didn't know what to do."

"I remember that… Having so many adults glaring at me, most of them ninja, was really scary…"

"After I saw the look on your face, I _knew_ that something was wrong. There was simply no way that any child could have ever deserved such intense loathing at that age. Then I looked at Naruto, and that cemented it."

"Naruto…? But Naruto's face is never sad; you can't tell how badly he feels by his face."

"Exactly." Shikamaru looked over at his father, who was still looking at the clouds. "Those looks that they were giving him were enough to frighten you in only a few minutes, and you were no crybaby. That determined look in his eyes is something I'll never forget. It said 'you can do this all you want, but I'm not going to let it bother me anymore! I'm going to change things, and one day you won't look at me with these cold eyes! You'll look up to me!' Ever since that day, I've been unable to hate him, even for a moment."

When it became apparent that Shikato wasn't going to say any more, Shikamaru _had_ to ask. "Why?"

"Because, Shikamaru… It's difficult to hate a man that you respect that much." He got up and stretched his arms a bit before walking away. "But… don't think poorly of your mother for hating him. Even if she has some faults, she's still the woman who brought you into this world." Stopping at the steps, he turned back once more. "Oh, I have one last thing to say about Uzumaki Naruto. That boy is a lot of things to a lot of people, but there's one thing that he'll always be: a strong spirit. If you remember anything that I've told you today, you should remember that." He started down the steps again, waving a hand over his shoulder, "I'm going to go rest for my mission now."

Shikamaru, sitting alone on the bench, turned his gaze to the clouds once more. /_How can they have been keeping something like this from us? More importantly, what could Naruto have possibly saved us all from? It has to have been long enough ago that even _he _is too young to remember, based on the carnage that Oyaji was talking about… And that's another problem: what could possibly be able to kill that many shinobi that easily?_/

He just sat there, staring at the clouds and thinking about murderers, until a certain memory came to mind. /_In the hospital, when we were talking to Gaara… Naruto said 'I have a real monster in me…' Oyaji said that he grew up hated, so it probably happened fairly close to the time of his birth, but babies can't fight monsters. Based on what he said, it must have been sealed inside him somehow… That's it! It explains everything!_/

Shikamaru smirked for a moment before realizing that there was nothing to be happy about. One of his closest friends was the single most hated person in Konoha, and it wasn't even for a good reason. Then his thoughts turned to the last remaining question, and he was surprised to find that it was very easily answered. The only monster that had attacked Konoha in the appropriate timeframe was the Kyuubi. He was angered somewhat by the lies that his generation had been told about the Kyuubi's death, but he reasoned that not all kids were likely to be as understanding as he was. With the secret identified, he knew exactly what he had to do next.

* * *

"Yoshi! It's finally my turn!" Anko had an excited grin, something that Naruto liked less each time he saw it. "I have a feeling I'm going to love Fridays, even if they _are_ immediately followed by _Saturdays_." He thought her disgusted tone was a bit overdone, but had much more important concerns.

"What cool new jutsu are you gonna teach me? Are you gonna show me how Orochimaru gets that sword to come out of his mouth? Oh, wait, you've gotta teach me to--"

"Oi, hold on a minute!" She did _not_ like being interrupted, especially when talking about something that promised to be fun for her. Naruto quieted down fairly quickly though, so she resumed her grinning. "Alright, I gave up last Friday to start working on your style, so I never got a chance to find out what you can actually do. I've seen your taijutsu before, so I don't really need to ask about that, but what ninjutsu do you know?"

"I thought you said you'd heard about my training from Baa-chan…"

"She didn't tell me very much about it." Anko shrugged, "all she said was that you created a bunch of really strong techniques."

"She said they were 'really strong?'" Seeing Anko nod, he couldn't help but grin sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess they are…"

"Cut the false modesty and tell me what you know already."

"Oh, right…" He started ticking them off on his fingers, "I know kage bunshin no jutsu, bakuretsu kage bunshin no jutsu, rasengan, kuchiyose no jutsu, Naruto senkou no jutsu, oodama--"

"Wait, what was that last one?"

"Naruto senkou no jutsu?"

"Yeah. What the hell is that?" Naruto opened his mouth, but she decided to interrupt. "You know what? It will probably be better if you just _show_ me all of your original techniques. Descriptions can be misleading."

"You're not gonna make me spend two week 'mastering' all of them, are you?"

"Maybe…"

He could tell from her face that she was kidding, so he formed the rabbit and sheep seals. "**Naruto Senkou no Jutsu!**" Not really sure of how to demonstrate his increased speed and strength, he just ran a few circles around her before kicking a tree, leaving a leg-shaped dent in it. When his technique dispelled he grinned at the look on Anko's face.

"How much faster did you just get?"

"About ten times…"

"Ten times? That's incredible! You've essentially found a safe equivalent to opening all eight of the hachimon!"

"Er… If you say so…"

Her eyebrow rose, "what's _that_ supposed to mean?" The way he was scratching the back of his head didn't strike her as a good thing.

"It's just that I have to put chakra into it continuously, which makes it so that I can't use any other ninjutsu."

"That's not a bad compromise, though. Having ten times your speed and strength would allow you to beat most taijutsu specialists, even though you're a ninjutsu specialist, and it could help you get out of bad situations more quickly. As far as trade-offs go, that's a pretty good one. Anyway, let's see some of your other techniques."

"Yoshi!" It struck her as odd that he formed a kage bunshin, but the reason for that became clear when they formed the technique. After a moment, which he used to pick an appropriate target, there were dual cries of "**Oodama Rasengan!**" Immediately following was a degree of destruction she wouldn't have thought possible from the little ball of chakra. What really got to her wasn't the power, though.

"How in the _hell_," her eyes narrowed as he turned around, "is it even _remotely_ possible for you to have made a technique like that without being able to pop the balloon?" Naruto looked down at the ground for a moment before grinning sheepishly up at her.

"There's a little trick I figured out…"

"_Another_ trick?"

"It was really pretty simple… I rotated his chakra, and he rotated mine. Now that I can do the rotation right, I don't need the trick anymore, but it was useful at first."

"How do you come up with all of these little tricks?" He just shrugged, but she decided that it was probably just his messed up way of thinking. Growing up completely alone, he had to have developed a completely unique way of looking at things. "That technique is kind of wasteful, though. Having to split your chakra in half just to do that amount of damage… it's disproportional. It would be a good idea to get that down without the bunshin, but we'll worry about that some other time. What else you got?"

"Dangan!" Remembering what Sakura had said about it, Anko allowed herself a little excitement. If it was anywhere near the speed that had been described to her, it was definitely worth seeing. He formed a rasengan, grinned at the fact that he could do it so readily with one hand, and aimed it at a tree some fifty feet away. "**Rasengan Dangan!**"

One thing struck Anko as note-worthy: Sakura must have had slow eyes. While she couldn't say that she would have been able to dodge it, it didn't seem to be moving much faster than that Lee kid had moved after opening the fourth gate. Considering Orochimaru's speed, that was likely to be a problem. "Is that as fast as it goes?"

"Eh?" Of all of the questions she could have asked, that was among the least expected.

"I'm not saying that it's slow or anything, but it wasn't fast enough to land a blow on Orochimaru."

"What! How fast can he move?"

"Pretty fast… He was legendary for a reason, you know."

"Oh, right…" He didn't look very happy to hear that, but she didn't want him underestimating Orochimaru. "Well, the oodama dangan goes faster…"

"How _much_ faster?" His grin said it all.

"A _lot_ faster." She continued to look at him expectantly, but it took him a moment to get the hint. Again forming a kage bunshin, he prepared the technique and looked for a good target. "**Oodama Dangan!**" Anko was happy to learn that it was definitely faster, but was disappointed by the fact that she could still see it as a blur.

"That would probably have been too fast for Orochimaru to dodge thirteen years ago, as long as he was within fifty feet or so… He's probably faster now, though, so you shouldn't rely on it too much." Naruto's head fell, but Anko didn't really care. "More importantly, why do you have so many one-hit kill techniques? Weren't you planning on taking the Uchiha back by force?"

"I was worried more about the fight with Orochimaru…"

"It's probably a good thing that you're concentrating on Orochimaru, but you shouldn't forget the reason behind that fight. Considering that he's an Uchiha, and that he's training with Orochimaru, that Sasuke kid is probably going to be pretty strong. You'll need some powerful techniques that _aren't_ designed to kill, if you really want to bring him back."

"Yeah, I know…"

"So, do you have any other original jutsu? Other than the scream thing, obviously."

"Uh… Kind of…" She grinned at what was obviously going on.

"This is the thing that made you collapse in the tower, isn't it?" He looked down at the ground, which told her all she needed to know. "Just show it to me. Now that your control is better, it probably won't be nearly as draining as it was before."

"You really think so?" Anko nodded, so he formed the dragon, rabbit, and sheep seals. "**Ninpou: Ryuu no Hikou!**" Unable to think of a way to think of a way to demonstrate such a significant speed increase visibly, Naruto just marked all of the nearby trees with a kunai. His ending position didn't quite match up with his starting one though, so she immediately knew something was off.

"What'd you do?" Much to Naruto's surprise, he didn't fall over. He was breathing heavily, his entire body felt like it was on fire, and he had a slight stomach cramp, but he was still standing up. Anko turned her attention away from him for a moment to see if anything had changed, and immediately noticed the kunai marks on the trees. "And how'd you scratch all of the trees so quickly?"

"Ryuu no hikou makes me way faster, so I just ran around and cut them all."

Her eyes widened significantly. "You can get that much faster? I couldn't even see you move!" Turning her attention back to his hunched form, her awe quickly disappeared. "But it looks like you had a good reason for not wanting to use it… Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. This isn't nearly as bad as the last time I used it."

"Hmm…" She had to think it over for a few seconds, but the answer was pretty clear. "You shouldn't use this technique. The negatives outweigh the positives far too much."

"What! All I need is some practice! It hurts less each time, so--"

"I wasn't talking about the pain, idiot. This jutsu uses too much of your chakra, and you're a sitting duck afterwards. Considering that you already have a technique to increase your speed, this technique isn't worth the effort."

"But I spent four weeks on this! I can't just throw that away!"

"You will if you know what's good for you. Waste time on it if you want to, but it'll just make catching up to Orochimaru take that much longer." Naruto shook a little bit, but eventually decided that the technique wasn't worth pursuing. "Is that all the techniques you've got so far?" He nodded, and she grinned again. "That's really quite a few jutsu to create in such a short time. I don't think you deserve that label of 'dead-last' at all."

"Of course not! I won't lose to anyone!"

"Glad to hear it!" Her grin became more of a normal smile, which unnerved him somewhat, but he eventually smiled back. "Your style has one major advantage that will probably make your entire life easier: adaptability. Almost all of your techniques are adaptable to virtually any situation, which means that it's extremely difficult to come up with a strategy that will actually work against you. If the style you're developing works out as well as you think it will, you'll be even more adaptable. Still, it's a good idea to know _some_ jutsu for special situations, and keeping that in mind I think I know exactly what I want you to learn first."

"Really?" /_She's getting right to the point? That's so unlike her…_/

"Yep! The simplest of the katon jutsu: jigokubi no jutsu (hellfire technique)!"

"What! Why the hell would I want to learn that?" Anko's smile became a grin again.

"Because you summon frogs, for one. There's a good chance that Orochimaru will summon Manda while fighting you, and your best counter for that is to summon Gamabunta."

"What does fire have to do with Gamabunta?"

"Everything I know about Gamabunta can be summed up pretty quickly: he's a frog, he's really big, he's got a sword, and he spits oil. Do you get it now, or am I really gonna have to spell it out for you?"

"So…" He had to think about it for a moment, but there was no _way_ he was going to ask her to explain it. "You want me to use this technique to light the oil on fire?"

"I'm glad to see that you're smarter than people give you credit for, even if it's not by much."

"But…" Naruto got the feeling that she had some other reason for wanting him to learn the technique, but didn't ask because he knew he would never get it out of her. "Why can't I learn a stronger technique? Wouldn't that be more useful?"

"A simple technique for a simple purpose. All you're doing with it is lighting oil on fire, so you don't need it to be very powerful. Considering that this is your first elemental technique, it's best to start with something simple anyway."

He didn't like the way she was avoiding telling him her real reason, but her fake reasons made enough sense that he didn't care. "How do you do the technique?"

"You probably shouldn't practice it around so many trees… I know the perfect place! Follow me!" She took off at a run, leaving him no choice but to follow. Luckily for him she wasn't running very fast, so he was able to keep up fairly well.

What surprised him wasn't that she took him to a lake, but that she took him to _that_ part of _that_ lake. It was the same dock that he had often seen Sasuke sitting on alone after classes got out at the academy. Anko turned around to tell him all about the jutsu, but stopped on seeing that he was lost in thought. When he snapped out of his reverie to see her staring at him expectantly, he was slightly embarrassed. "What're you waiting for, Anko-chan? Hurry up and teach me the jutsu!"

"Heh…" /_What about this place could possibly elicit that kind of reaction from him?_/ "Alright, let's get started! The seals are ox, horse, and tiger, which shouldn't be too hard for you to remember. Concentrate chakra in your chest while you make the seals, and then release it all at once through your mouth. I'll show you once so you can get the idea." Not leaving him time to ask any questions, as she didn't really want to answer them, she turned to the lake and formed the seals.

The actual jutsu was the most generic stream of fire that Naruto had ever seen. It was the same width as her mouth, and it traveled in a completely straight line before dissipating some twenty feet in front of her. "They called _that_ jigokubi?"

"What would _you_ have called it?" He opened his mouth to respond before she raised a hand, "on second thought, I don't want to know. I'm sure you don't have any questions, so--"

"Why didn't you have to say the name of the technique?" Anko's hand found its way back to that familiar spot on the bridge of her nose.

"Don't they teach _anything_ at the academy? Ugh… Well, this is something you really need to know, so I guess I can tell you. While it's true that saying the name of a jutsu can help to make that jutsu easier to use, it's also true that you can't talk while using a technique that's released out of your mouth. Because of that, those techniques are generally considered to be more difficult. If you try to say the name of this jutsu while using it you'll burn your mouth, so I would advise against it."

"Isn't there a katon jutsu I could learn that doesn't come out the mouth?"

"Not one that I know how to do." She grinned even wider, which he just knew was a bad thing. "Just get over here and try it." Not wanting to give up, as that went against everything that he was, he stepped up next to her and prepared to use the technique. He quickly formed the ox, horse, and tiger seals before releasing all of the chakra stored in his chest. Other than a few sparks emanating from his mouth, nothing happened. "Do you have any talent at all? Even for a first try, that was horrible!"

"Don't yell at me! This is hard, damn it!"

* * *

"Quit being so quiet Shikamaru! It's creeping me out!" He didn't respond, which made Ino nervous.

"From his eyes, I would say that he has something very serious on his mind." Neji's statement of the obvious didn't make her feel any better.

"Yeah, but _what_?" She looked around expectantly at everyone, but they all just shrugged. Shikamaru was completely unaware of the conversation going on around him, and he wouldn't have cared about it anyway. "Oh well, it won't matter that much. We'll figure it out _without_ his help."

As they approached Naruto and Anko, Shikamaru surprised everyone by suddenly moving to the front of the group. "Naruto, I need to talk to you alone."

"You already know I won't allow that, brat." He looked over at Anko, not happy about the interruption.

"Actually, you can come too if you want. I just don't want them," he indicated the nine confused genin behind him, "to hear."

"Eh?" She had definitely _not_ been expecting that. After a few moments of thought, she decided that it would be okay as long as she was there. "Yeah, I guess that's fine…"

"Good." Turning to Naruto, he allowed himself a grin. "Come on Naruto, it's important." At a loss as to what he should do, Naruto looked to Anko. Her curious look told him that she wanted him to say yes, if for no reason other than finding out what Shikamaru was going to try. Logically, he couldn't think of any reason that it wouldn't be okay, as long as Anko was there, so it was a fairly simple task for him to come up with an answer.

"No way Shikamaru! I'm busy training right now! I don't have time to go talk to you!"

"Naruto…" Shikamaru let out a sigh, wondering for a moment if it was really worth the effort. "This is more important than a few minutes worth of training." Naruto went to refuse again, but stopped at seeing his friend's face. The only time he had seen Shikamaru with such a serious look was when the boy had led the Sasuke retrieval mission.

"Yeah, okay…" That serious look was quickly replaced by a smirk, but it really made no difference at that point.

"Alright, let's go." He turned to leave before realizing something very important. "Oh, Naruto, you should probably leave a kage bunshin here to make sure they don't try to listen in."

"What the hell are you doing, Shikamaru?" Sakura's confusion was getting to be too much for her.

"This is none of your business, Sakura. Quit being so troublesome, messing around in other people's affairs…" No one was mentally prepared to deal with _Shikamaru_ standing up to anyone, let alone _Sakura_, so they just remained quiet as Naruto made a kage bunshin and ran off with Shikamaru and Anko. After a few moments of silence, Ino felt compelled to ask.

"Wasn't he on _our_ side the last time we saw him?"

"Shikamaru doesn't take anyone's side." Everyone looked over at Chouji, surprised that he was joining the conversation. "He just does what he knows is right at the time."

"It doesn't matter what he's doing right now! That lazy idiot just gave us the perfect opportunity!" Akamaru yipped in agreement to Kiba's words as everyone turned their attention to him. "Even if we can't _hear_ what they're saying, Neji can just read their lips!"

"Hey, yeah!" Ino's interruption was ignored for the most part, as all eyes suddenly fell on Neji. Said stoic boy was suddenly very embarrassed, and his cheeks were turning red.

"I…" He coughed before continuing in a much quieter voice. "I never learned to read lips."

"What! How can you not know how to read lips?"

"Do _you_ know how?" Ino, wanting to turn attention away from that embarrassment as quickly as possible, turned to Hinata.

"What about you Hinata?" The shy girl shook her head, an honest answer. Of course, even if she _had_ known how to read lips, she wouldn't have felt right about using that skill to learn something that Naruto didn't want her to know. "Kuso…"

"Everyone just relax; I'm sure Shikamaru will tell us what he finds out…" Sakura sighed, letting everyone know that she didn't really believe her own words. They all sat down, wondering what exactly Shikamaru was going to say.

"That's far enough." Shikamaru stopped so suddenly that Naruto almost ran into him, and Anko stopped a few feet further back. "I just hope that Neji and Hinata don't know how to read lips…"

"Okay, what was so damned important that you had to tell him?" He ignored Anko's interruption completely, focusing instead on what to say.

"There's really no point in beating around the bush, so I'll just come out and say it. Naruto, I know about the Kyuubi." Of all of the things he could have said, that was by far the most unexpected. Anko's mouth was left hanging open, and Naruto's eyes were as wide as they had ever been. "I don't care about any of it, and I'm not going to tell anyone, so don't get too worked up."

"Who told you?" Anko was the first to come back to her senses, and she wanted to be sure that whoever had told him would be punished as severely as possible.

"No one. The clues were all out there; all I had to do was put them together. Anyway, you're still the same Naruto, so I don't really give a damn whether or not the Kyuubi is sealed in you."

"Really?" Naruto looked about ready to hug him, so Shikamaru backed away slightly. "You really don't care?"

"You were my friend when I didn't know. Nothing's changed except the extent of my information."

"Wait, why are you suddenly so against the other idiots knowing?" As she knew that he had to have had some reason to reveal all of this to Naruto, Anko wasn't about to let Shikamaru get anything past her. "Weren't you helping them before?"

"I don't want them to know because they don't _need_ to know, and I don't know how they'll take it." Naruto's head fell, which made Shikamaru sigh. "They _do_ care about you, though. The fact that they keep bugging you should tell you that."

"What! How in the hell does bugging me show that they care?"

"Because it means that they want to be a part of your life, for one." As he honestly hadn't considered that, Naruto stopped himself from responding. "You've been spending so much of your time trying to bring Sasuke back that even _Sakura_ hardly sees you anymore."

"But I need to train if I'm going to be able to--"

"I'm not saying I want you to train less, Naruto." Shikamaru raised his hands defensively, "but it wouldn't kill you to say hi once in a while." From the look on Anko's face, she clearly thought it _would_ kill him, but she didn't say anything. "The main reason that they're bugging you is that they're worried about you, which brings me to my question: does the Kyuubi have anything to do with why you're trying so hard to bring Sasuke back?"

"Eh?" As he searched his brain, Naruto couldn't find even one reason why Shikamaru would think that Sasuke and Kyuubi were connected. "What does Sasuke have to do with the bastard fox?"

"Is that a 'no,' or are you avoiding the question?" Seeing Naruto shrug, he took it as a 'no.' "Okay then, I guess that's all I needed." He turned to leave, but decided he had one last thing to say. "Oh, before I forget… Naruto, I understand that Sasuke was your friend, but don't forget that you have other friends who _haven't_ abandoned you. Neji said that you have better eyes than he does. Just take a look at _yourself_ every once in a while, alright?"

Shikamaru ran back to the others, leaving Naruto and a very confused Anko to themselves. He was intentionally giving Naruto an opportunity to ditch everyone, wondering what he would do. After thinking about Shikamaru's words for a few moments, Naruto's choice became clear. "Come on Anko-chan, let's go back and take everyone to lunch!"

* * *

That was it: the limit had been reached. There was simply no way he could continue to let Naruto act like an idiot. Not only was the boy on a one-way train to a miserable future, he was likely to die before reaching his stop. Jiraiya watched Naruto's pathetic attempts at jigokubi no jutsu for a few minutes before deciding to interrupt.

"Oi, Naruto!" Naruto turned around halfway through a hand seal to see someone that he _really_ didn't want to see.

"Ero-sennin? What the hell do _you_ want?"

"Is that any way to greet a great teacher like me?" Even Anko was glaring at him, which he knew was a very bad sign. She was really more the type to put up false smiles while being as creepy as possible when angered. He decided to get right to the point, as he had nothing else to talk about. "You know why I'm here."

"I already told you, there's no way I'm giving up on Sasuke! I'll just come--"

"Damn it Naruto, quit being so stupid! You have bigger worries than that idiot, and he's not your friend! From what I've gathered, Akatsuki is going to be ready sooner than expected, and you're going to get killed unless you forget about Sasuke and focus on what's important!"

"Akatsuki? What's that?" He had forgotten that Anko was there.

"A group that's after Naruto."

"After Naruto…?" She instantly understood that they were after Kyuubi, and became silent in the hope of hearing more about them.

"Naruto, we're talking about people far stronger than Orochimaru! Even if you _can_ get strong enough to beat him, you'll never survive unless you learn to use the Kyuubi's power!"

"Shut up! I don't care how strong they are, I don't need the fox and I don't need you! I'm not going to lose to anyone!"

"And I'm telling you that you _are_ going to lose to them! Why won't you--"

"You shouldn't underestimate him, Jiraiya." Anko formed a grin at the confused look on his face. "That could be a fatal mistake."

"Maybe you need to stop _over_estimating him, Anko. Even if he's come up with a few good techniques, he'll never be as strong as these people in two years."

"I don't know about that… It's true that he could stand to be stronger, but his training pays off amazingly quickly. Considering his current rate of growth, I see no reason for him to give up on Sasuke."

"Am I the _only_ one that can see where this is headed? Naruto, Sasuke is _not_ your friend, he's _not_ your teammate, and he doesn't give a _damn_ about you! You will _never_ convince him to come back to this village, and even if you somehow manage to force him to come back, he'll hate you for it!"

"What the hell do you know about it?" Naruto's eyes were unlike anything Jiraiya had ever seen, and they were beginning to scare him. The raw determination was beginning to feel like killing intent. "Just shut up and leave me the hell alone!" With that Naruto turned back to the lake and continued to try to learn the technique.

"Fine, just keep living in your little dream world. Your chuunin exam is in two days, so I'll wait until that's over before trying again to convince you. Eventually you'll realize the truth, and when you do I'll be waiting. I can only hope that it doesn't take you too long, for your sake." He turned and left, but couldn't help but feel like he should have said more.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry that the chapter's getting up later than usual, but I accidentally clicked no when Word asked me to save my work yesterday… Speaking of which, the last few scenes were better the first time, but there's nothing I can do about that. I also burned my hand earlier, making it harder to type, but the true victim of that accident was the ramen (I can't believe that _I_ wasted several ramen noodles, as well as some broth!).

This chapter doesn't seem as good as the others to me, but it's not so bad that I'm about to completely rewrite it. Hopefully I'll get out of whatever funk I seem to be in by the time I start writing the next chapter…

I hope you don't mind too much, but I gave Shikato some more depth (and importance to the story). We've only ever seen him talking to Shikamaru about women and responsibility in the manga, and his ideology concerning the Kyuubi situation was never clarified, so I figured that I had free reign. My eyes actually watered a little bit while writing that part, but it was probably because I had gone more than forty hours without sleep for the sixth weekend in a row…

A big thank you goes out to Lutris Argutiae for the translation help, and my eternal contempt goes out to all internet translators for leading me astray. "Gouka" indeed! Seriously though, thanks Lutris!

Concerning jigokubi no jutsu, keep in mind that I had most of my ideas for Naruto's training down _before_ all of the nature manipulation stuff in the manga. I didn't know at the time that people were more adept with certain elements, or that Naruto's element was wind. Of course, even knowing that, it still seems like a good idea for him to learn to ignite Gamabunta's oil.

In the next chapter, we finally get to the chuunin exam finals! More importantly, we get to the fight between Gaara and Ankoku, which should be really fun to write. It'll be fun to have Naruto fight Kaen too, and Lee vs. Neji… I can't promise that the entire exam will be spanned in one chapter, considering the number of lengthy fights, but I'll try to get it into one or two.

My lack of sleep is becoming a serious problem, but I'm still going to try to get the next chapter out on time. As soon as I stop working (September fifth is my last day) I should be able to sleep well for two weeks or so, and until then I'm just gonna push my body (and mind) as hard as I can. I'm sad to see my job go, but I really, _really_ need the rest.

Onward, to the Q&A!

Did it annoy you that you didn't get to see Naruto working on the "technique?" It was on purpose.

Would you consider Naruto's "technique" to be ninjutsu or taijutsu?

Who makes a better teacher: Anko or Jiraiya?

Do you think that Shikamaru handled everything well?

I can't think of anything else right now, and I really want to get the chapter posted, so I'll leave it at that. Thanks for reading, please review!


	9. The Sand, A Stone, And Some Leaves

**Prove the Pervert Wrong**

**Chapter Nine: The Sand, A Stone, And Some Leaves**

**Disclaimer: I didn't own Naruto when I wrote the last eight chapters, and I don't own it now. Please, resist the urge to cry.**

"Speech"

/_Thoughts_/

"**Jutsu!**"

* * *

**Pre-Chapter A/N:** Hey all, I just want to apologize ahead of time if this chapter isn't up to your expectations. That's not to say that I don't like it, or that you won't like it, but some personal stuff came up that might have affected my ability to write. My sister was in the hospital with a nearly-fatal potassium shortage, and it was affecting her ability to think correctly… You probably understand that it's bad from just that, so I'll spare you the details. She's fine now, though, so don't worry about it. 

Anyway, while I'm perfectly comfortable with the way this chapter turned out, I figured I should give an explanation in case it's of lowered quality and I'm just not noticing. I haven't noticed any changes in myself, but this _has_ to be affecting me…

With that out of the way, I give you chapter nine!

* * *

"Oh, Kaen, you're still here! I'm glad I was able to catch you before you left!" 

"What do _you_ want?" The glare that Kaen gave his father was among the coldest the jounin had ever received, but he just responded with a warm smile.

"I wanted to wish you luck!"

"'Luck…'" Kaen let out a cold, harsh laugh. "Luck is an imaginary force created by fools and weaklings to make them feel as though they have the potential to succeed. I have no need for this 'luck,' or anything else that you can offer me. If that's all you had to say, I have a fight to be getting to." Without even waiting for a response, Kaen left his father alone in the room.

"Do your best…"

* * *

"Anko-chan?" Anko was waiting with a grin just outside the stadium, which made Naruto slightly nervous. "What are you doing here?" 

"I'm just here to tell you to win."

"You're… wishing me luck?"

"'Luck?'" Anko's grin faltered for a moment before returning even larger than before. "I never said anything about luck. Luck is for weaklings. You're the strongest one in the competition, with the possible exception of that Gaara guy, so I'm saying that you'd _better_ win. Or else."

"Or else what?" The way she licked her lips told him exactly what she was going to say, but she still took great pleasure in saying it.

"I'll kill you myself!" Naruto sweat-dropped, wondering when she was going to come up with some new material. "Seriously though, people know you've been training with me, so I'll look bad if you don't win."

"Don't worry about it! I'm not gonna lose to anyone!"

"See that you don't." She turned to go inside, but stopped on remembering that she had one last thing to say. "Oh, almost forgot… That Kaen guy's a real asshole. Make sure he loses a lot of blood, 'kay?"

Anko was gone before Naruto had a chance to reply, but he couldn't help but grin at the thought. He was somewhat disgusted with himself for grinning at the thought of someone losing a copious amount of blood, but that didn't make the grin dissipate. As he entered the field on which the fights were to take place, Lee, Neji, Ino, and Sakura all waved at him. Hinata was too shy to wave, opting instead to simply push her index fingers together while blushing and looking at the ground, and Gaara simply nodded. Naruto was the last entrant to arrive, but even _he_ was ten minutes early, and there was nothing to do while waiting except stand there.

There were a lot of spectators, but not nearly as many as there had been at the previous exam. Without the allure of an Uchiha, people simply weren't interested enough to take the time off. Even having two Hyuuga, someone who had defeated a Hyuuga prodigy, the Hokage's apprentice, and the Uchiha's previous opponent wasn't equivalent to having an Uchiha.

Tsunade, settled into her cement high-backed chair with the worst possible view of the action, was _very_ annoyed. She would have just said "tradition be damned" and watched from the combatants' waiting room if it weren't for the fact that there were so many potential clients present. Somehow the idea of an impatient, self-centered Hokage didn't strike her as good for the village. Even if she didn't like the way everything was structured, she was the host, and was therefore required to adhere to tradition in the presence of her honored guests.

Still, she thought the chair was a bit much. Whose idea had it been to make the damned thing out of cement, anyway? She had tried to bring the chair from her office, but Shizune had caught her in the act. Tsunade tried using authority ("get out of the way, _now_"), guilt trips ("you hate me, is that it?"), threats ("I'm not above breaking a few of your ribs, you know"), and even pleading ("come on, have a heart!"), but Shizune had refused to yield. It was for the good of the village, of course, but she still found it odd that she, the Hokage, was so easily bossed around by Shizune, a jounin. When the hell had that happened?

"Mabui, over here!" Kiba waved his arms to get her attention as Shino, Chouji, and Tenten turned around to do the same. Mabui didn't hear him over the crowd, but Akamaru's barking caught her attention.

"Hey guys!" She waved back and ran over to them. "How'd you get such good seats?"

"Civilians generally avoid the front row so that the ninja can have a better view." Tenten shrugged, "it's always been that way. Haven't you ever watched the exams before?" Seeing Mabui shake her head, they were all a little surprised. "Oh… Well, we saved you a seat, if you want a good view."

"But…"

"Don't worry, Mabui." Shino again surprised everyone by being the first to speak, but he didn't notice their reactions. "There are no actual rules against you sitting here, and we know that you want to be able to see Naruto's fights."

"Er…" She didn't really feel comfortable with the situation, but she didn't want to be rude, so she nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

On the other side of the arena, Temari and Kankurou were just getting settled in. They couldn't wait to see Ankoku get massacred by Gaara, but at the same time they were slightly anxious that such a fight would make Gaara lose whatever calm Naruto had given him. Hoping against hope that what Naruto had taught him was something permanent, they allowed themselves to relax mentally and prepared to enjoy the show.

"Oi, it's the Suna guys!" Turning around, they saw something they _definitely_ didn't want to see: Boufuu. "You don't mind if I sit with you, do ya?"

"Actually, we--"

"Great!" He sat down in an empty chair next to Temari, which she was beginning to wish was occupied by Baki. "I was hopin' that I'd be able to sit with ya while Ankoku fights your teammate."

"You're not wanted here; go away." Kankurou's command was ignored.

"For his sake though, he'd better not be all that strong." Boufuu's sneer made them both sick to their stomachs, but he didn't mind the looks on their faces. "Ankoku only kills strong opponents, so he might survive if he's weak enough."

"He won't be able to kill Gaara. If anything, he'll be lucky if _Gaara_ doesn't kill _him_." Boufuu would have burst out laughing if Temari's face hadn't been so serious.

"I think you're either overestimatin' your friend pretty badly, or underestimatin' Ankoku worse. Even most of Iwa's jounin wouldn't be willin' to fight Ankoku."

"You're the one who's underestimating Gaara, if you really think he'll lose." The rock-nin looked unconvinced, but neither of the sand-nins gave a damn what he thought. Simply put, they _knew_ that Gaara wouldn't lose.

While the rest of the spectators were seated, most of the Konoha jounin chose to stand. It wasn't so much a precautionary measure as a force of habit, none of them wanting to leave their guards down. Because there was no major threat, most of the village's jounin were actually out on missions, and those that weren't didn't bother to scatter themselves around the stands. ANBU existed for a reason, after all.

Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma were all standing together, not wanting to miss the opportunity to glean information from each other during the fights. Of course, there was still some time left before the beginning of the tournament, so they decided to discuss the upcoming matches.

"So Gai, who do you think will win the fight between Neji and Lee?"

"You have to ask? Lee will win the fight, of course! His determination and hard work will put Neji's natural genius to shame!"

"Do you really think that, or is this just wishful thinking?" Kakashi was the one to ask the question, but Asuma and Kurenai were just as curious.

"Kakashi, do you really doubt Lee that much?" Receiving no answer other than a blank stare, Gai let out a sigh. "He has superior speed, strength, and stamina, and he's more motivated to win than Neji. Even if Neji can see attacks coming from any direction, that doesn't mean that he can react quickly enough to block them, and kaiten uses too much energy for him to rely on it completely." Striking his nice-guy pose, Gai finalized his opinion: "Lee won't lose!"

"If you say so…" /_You seem to be forgetting about Neji's ability to close Lee's tenketsus though…_/

"Even if he does win, will he be able to beat Gaara?" All attention turned to Kurenai, whose curiosity was getting the better of her.

"You're assuming that Gaara will win his first match, then?"

"Kakashi, are you a complete idiot? _I_ wouldn't want to fight Gaara. There's no way some no-name genin from Iwa is going to beat him."

"But it's the no-names that you really have to watch out for." Asuma took a drag on his cigarette, "we don't know much about what he can do, so we don't know that Gaara can beat him. Don't forget that Gaara was a no-name too, and still is to most people."

"Yeah, but--"

"That doton jutsu he used was able to completely withstand Chouji's attack, and he seemed to have a genjutsu as well, so it doesn't seem right to count him out just yet. I'm not saying that I think he'll win, but a jounin should know better than to make assumptions." Although she still didn't think he stood a snowball's chance in hell, she didn't bother to argue. Asuma was right about it being bad to presume weakness.

"Kurenai, do you think Hinata can beat Ino?" Looking over at him, she could tell that Kakashi was serious, so she thought it over.

"It… depends."

"'Depends?' On what?"

"How loudly Naruto cheers her on." She sighed and shook her head. "In terms of skill, Hinata is leaps and bounds over Ino, but she doubts herself enough that she could still lose."

"You don't think she's changed at all?" As Kurenai began to wonder if Asuma's sole purpose in life was to undermine everything she said, he took another drag on his cigarette. "Her fight with Kankurou went pretty well…"

"She's come a long way, but her father screwed her up pretty badly. He doesn't even treat her like a person, let alone his own daughter, and it's all because he thinks that she's too weak. Growing up in a home like that, it's amazing that she has the courage to be a ninja at all."

"What, no speculation about Kaen?" They all turned around to see Aoshi walking towards them, looking less cheerful than usual.

"We know better than to make guesses about Naruto's fights." Kakashi shrugged, "every time we do, we end up being wrong."

"Oh…"

* * *

It didn't surprise Tsunade that the Tsuchikage elected not to come, given that only one rock-nin was participating, but it still disappointed her that she was the only one to have to sit in such an uncomfortable chair. Glad for the chance to stand for a moment, she got up and cleared her throat to start the exam. "Everyone, thanks for coming to the Konoha-gakure chuunin selection exam! We'll be starting the tournament now, and you'll get to see the nine genin that made it through the preliminaries. Please enjoy all of the matches!" She continued to stand there for a moment, wondering if anyone would really care that she wasn't sitting, but eventually noticed Shizune's glare and sat down. 

"Alright guys, listen up." Genma immediately had the attention of all nine participants, even though most of them knew exactly what he was going to say. "The arena is different, but the rules are the same: there are none. Loss is only by death or forfeit, but if I deem the match over, I'll step in and stop it. Understand?" Everyone nodded. "The first match will be round zero: Touketsu Kaen vs. Uzumaki Naruto. Those two stay here, and the rest of you go to the waiting room."

Naruto and Kaen, who had already been standing several feet apart, turned to face each other as everyone else left the field. Kaen's smirk was so wide that Genma felt like punching the brat's face in, but after remembering Naruto's match with Neji he didn't think it necessary. The look in Naruto's eyes wasn't very reassuring, though.

"Begin!" Kaen immediately charged head-on, throwing a punch at Naruto's face. Because he wasn't wearing his weights, Naruto easily jumped backwards out of the way, but Kaen pursued him. It soon became clear that the blue-haired boy was faster than Naruto when his roundhouse kick hit Naruto square in the side of the head, sending the blond flying.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted to fight you, Naruto. Hurry up and get serious, or I'm gonna get mad."

Naruto, surprised that the kick hadn't hurt at all, got to his feet. He had ignored Kaen completely, focusing instead on what he was going to do. Under normal circumstances his plan would be to use Naruto senkou no jutsu to make himself faster than Kaen, but Ino's words refused to leave his mind. /_'An idiot like you… you're just gonna end up hurting all your allies.'_/

Noting that Naruto wasn't even really paying attention to him, Kaen became angry. "Fine! If you aren't going to come at me with everything that you have, I'll just have to give you some motivation! **Kaen!**" His arms encompassed in flames, he began a mad dash towards the still-indecisive Naruto. Just as his hit was about to connect, however, Naruto used kawarimi no jutsu to switch places with, of all things, Kaen. As that was the last thing Kaen had expected, he simply stumbled forward and fell on his face, while Naruto put some distance between them.

After putting some thought into it, Naruto had come to a simple conclusion: the best way to prove that he could be trusted with high-level attacks was to show that he knew when _not_ to use them. As he didn't want to _kill_ Kaen, he needed to limit himself to non-fatal attacks. His decision was that he wouldn't use any more power than was necessary to win.

Up in the stands, nearly everyone was surprised by Naruto's tactic. "Is that even possible? He just switched places with an unwilling living thing…"

"Yes Kurenai, it's possible." Kakashi sweat-dropped, embarrassed that Naruto had essentially copied him again. "It's extremely unorthodox to switch with your opponent, especially while they're in the middle of an attack, but it's possible nonetheless."

Kaen stood up, dusted himself off, and turned around to face Naruto. "Points for originality, but you won't beat me with a technique they teach at the academy. Don't you understand? Powerful techniques make powerful fighters, plain and simple. I need to beat you at your best, so bring out those S-rank jutsu I've heard about!"

"Why?" Naruto's question caused Kaen to raise an eyebrow. "Why do you need to beat me?"

"Because, Naruto…" Kaen's grin became wide enough that his mouth opened slightly, revealing his canines. "After you defeated the Hyuuga prodigy, you became known as the strongest genin in Konoha. By beating you, I'll show that I'm stronger, which will earn me the recognition I so desperately need. I'll put distance between my own reputation and that of my accursed clan, and be well on my way to forming a new clan, which will be known as the strongest in Konoha. _My_ clan won't be looked down upon, and--"

"That's _it_?" Naruto couldn't stand Kaen's rant anymore. "You're acting like a complete asshole because you hate your clan? At least you _have_ a clan!"

"I'd rather have a life of loneliness than a legacy of weakness and disrespect. When you get right down to it, that's all I care about. If you disagree with me, then pull out that tremendous power you're supposed to have and fight me!" He formed the bird seal, "**Bottou!**" Just as Naruto began to wonder why Kaen would want to cover himself with water, he noticed that the water wasn't covering _Kaen_. The blue-haired genin then formed the rabbit seal, "**Ikazuchi! (Thunder!)**" What occurred next caused Naruto no small amount of shock. While the technique didn't produce thunder, it did create a bolt of electricity that struck the thin layer of water covering Naruto's body.

"Naruto!" Mabui shot out of her chair, alarming everyone around her. "NARUTO!"

"Mabui, calm down!" Kiba was immediately on his feet, trying to guide Mabui back to her seat. "He's fine!"

"Fine? He just got electrocuted!"

"You're forgetting that ninja are able to endure more than normal people." That calmed her down, but she still seemed pretty worried. "It'll take more than that to take Naruto down. Trust me."

Encased in water, Naruto was wondering what to do. Not only was he unable to breathe at all, but that attack had _hurt_. His most obvious option was to use a rasengan to gather all of the water and then launch it at the ground in front of Kaen to obscure the boy's vision while creating a bakuretsu kage bunshin and hiding underground, but he couldn't help but feel that there had to be a more basic solution. Remembering his earlier decision, he continued to think about what that solution could be.

"Chikushou! If you won't fight me, you'll just keep getting hurt! **Ikazuchi!**" The lightning again converged upon Naruto's water cocoon, but there was one major difference: Naruto was no longer there. Kaen, on the other hand, was. After screaming in pain from being hit with his own technique, he allowed the water to disappear into nothing so that he could breathe. "What, the same tactic? I already told you that that won't work!"

Naruto broke out laughing at that comment, barely resisting the urge to say "looked like it worked to me!" When he finally stopped laughing, Kaen looked about ready to go on a killing spree, so he tried to speak calmly. "Not everything is about strong techniques, idiot. Sometimes you need to know what resources are at your disposal and how to use them." It was Asuma's turn to sweat-drop at being copied. "Even the most basic jutsu are dangerous when used by a jounin."

"Shut up!" Kaen definitely looked angry, which Naruto didn't take as a good thing. "It's easy to say that when you have strong techniques, but do you really think you'd feel that way if you only had those basic jutsu? The strong have strong techniques, and it's because of those techniques that they're able to be strong! Quit rambling about things that you don't understand!" He quickly formed the boar and sheep seals, "**Shizume! (Sink!)**" The ground beneath Naruto pulled him downward into it, until he was submerged up to his knees. Far from finished, Kaen formed the boar and snake seals. "**Kataku Nare! (Harden!)**"

Suddenly unable to move his legs at all, Naruto became slightly worried. He tried pulling on his legs with his arms, but that didn't help at all. Although he briefly considered using kawarimi no jutsu on Kaen again, he decided against it. The last thing he wanted was to become predictable.

"What, you're not gonna switch with me again? Good, that'll just make it easier to force you to use a strong jutsu!" Kaen smirked as he charged the immobile Naruto.

As Naruto tried (and failed) to defend himself from Kaen's assault, Anko grew more and more annoyed. He was making her look like a completely inept teacher, to the point where Tsunade was likely to set her back on missions just to keep her away from him! She simply couldn't imagine a reason for him not to use kage bunshin and turn the tide of the battle.

Kakashi was scratching his head in confusion, but for a completely different reason. Turning to Aoshi, he cleared his throat. "Aoshi, how is it possible that Kaen can use _four_ types of elemental jutsu? There's no way a genin could be capable of that many types of nature manipulation, no matter how skilled he is."

"That's…" Aoshi let out a sigh. "That's because he _doesn't_ know how to manipulate his chakra's nature."

"Eh?" Kurenai, Asuma, and Gai all looked just as confused as Kakashi, but that didn't really surprise Aoshi.

"Our family techniques don't require that you learn to control your chakra's nature, as they use a… _different_ method for elemental attacks. It's supposedly easier to learn than nature manipulation, so it makes it easier to learn to use all five types of techniques."

"What kind of method could do _that_?"

"I'm not really sure about the specifics, as I've never been able to learn it myself, but I remember one of the scrolls saying that you 'work with what's already there.' For example: there are already elements in the air that are flammable, so all Kaen has to do is pour enough chakra into them that they heat up. Provided that there's enough oxygen around, he'll get easily managed fire."

"But…" /_That's so wasteful! Techniques like that…_/

"It's riddled with problems, of course. Despite his confidence, Kaen can't win this fight."

"Huh?" Asuma took a drag on his newly-lit cigarette. "You're predicting that your son will lose?" Aoshi smiled, causing him to receive some curious looks.

"One of the main problems with it is that it requires more chakra than it would if it were done in the normal way. He took a soldier pill before leaving home today, but even with that added chakra he can't use many more techniques, which is probably the only reason that he's switched over to taijutsu. Unless Naruto gives up or refuses to fight back, Kaen has no chance at all of winning."

"Why are you taking it so well? Don't you want your son to become a chuunin?"

"Yes Kurenai, I want him to be a chuunin, but that's not why I entered him in the exam." He chuckled at her puzzled look. "I entered Kaen so that he would lose, hoping that he would learn to lighten up and appreciate others, just like I entered Shimaru hoping that he would stop treating all of his opponents like his best friends. It's better for them to both fail the exam once than it is for them to pass on the first try and grow into dysfunctional shinobi."

"Ah…" Wondering whether or not his efforts were in vain, they turned their attention back to Naruto and Kaen. Naruto was still refusing to use any of his jutsu, and Kaen was getting more and more frustrated with the blond's attitude.

"Chikushou!" He landed another kick on Naruto's gut, "fight back!" The attacks didn't hurt Naruto very much at all, but they still stopped him from prying himself out of the ground, so he really couldn't do anything other than futilely attempt to defend himself. If he had been willing to risk killing Kaen he could have used rasengan, but that would have gone against his ideal for the fight.

Kage bunshin was a viable option, but there was an additional problem that he had to consider: Kaen's obsession with jutsu. Using a jounin-level technique would just have given Kaen an excuse to continue to believe that strong techniques make strong fighters, allowing him to wallow in his self-pity for the rest of his life. Considering how lucky Kaen had been to grow up with a large family, Naruto couldn't stand the thought of letting him think that he was justified.

"I said 'FIGHT BACK!'" Kaen threw a punch at Naruto's face, which Naruto didn't even _try_ to block. As he pulled back his fist to punch again, he caught a glimpse of Naruto's grin.

"You're pathetic." Letting out a little laugh, Naruto pulled out a kunai with an explosive note wrapped around it. "There's no way I'll lose to a whiner like you." He stabbed the kunai into the ground between them, submerging it almost completely.

"Are you _crazy_?" Kaen jumped back to a safe distance and watched as Naruto blew himself up. "Placing an explosive right next to yourself just to get out of my trap… You must be some kind of moron." Naruto gave no answer from his position within the smoke, which just frustrated Kaen more. "How am I supposed to show that I'm stronger than you if you not only won't fight me, but even seem to fight yourself? Bastard!"

It took a moment, but eventually Kaen realized that there were shuriken embedded in his legs. Naruto had taken advantage of his lack of focus, using the smoke as cover, and hit him with the most common projectile weapon among shinobi. Said genin walked out of the smoke with a big foxy grin. "You don't think things through very much, do you?"

"What are you talking about? _You're_ the one that blew himself up!" Naruto started laughing again, which just made Kaen angrier. "Why are you laughing? I didn't say anything funny!"

Letting his laughter die down, Naruto gestured to the hole created by the explosion. It was amazingly small. "Your jutsu made the ground so hard that the explosion barely affected me at all. My clothes didn't even get burned…"

"But…" /_My technique _protected_ him?_/ "Kuso!" Again forming the tiger seal, he resolved to end it. "**Kaen!**"

"What, this technique _again_?" While Kaen charged forward, Naruto subtly dropped an explosive note on the ground, but didn't set it up to explode. He let Kaen hit him, which only hurt because of the fire, and was sent rolling backwards several feet, ending up face down in the dirt.

"You really think I'm going to fall for a trick like that?" He dispelled his jutsu, "I know you didn't activate this note. Don't underestimate me!" /_Shimatta… I'm almost out of chakra! If I don't finish this soon I'll lose in the next round…_/ After a brief consideration of his options, Kaen charged Naruto for a standard taijutsu assault. Speed and strength were on his side, after all. Even if it _was_ what Naruto was hoping for, Kaen knew that he had the advantage. Naruto hadn't gotten up off of the ground, but Genma hadn't called the match, so Kaen felt no remorse whatsoever. Covering the distance between them fairly quickly, he threw a punch at the back of Naruto's head, and hit… an explosive note? "Shimatta!"

Kaen turned around as quickly as he could, not wanting to expose his back to Naruto, only to see that the explosive note was still laying on the ground. His eyes widening severely, he turned back towards what he knew had to be Naruto, fully prepared to put up a defensive. He was greeted by the site of a crumpled explosive note. As he was wondering which of the notes was actually Naruto, he found that there was suddenly a kunai lodged in the back of his right knee.

"So… kawarimi after all. I should've guessed that you would--" Upon seeing that the other explosive note was still an explosive note, he froze. Taking advantage of Kaen's distracted state, Naruto dispelled his henge and pinned his opponent on the ground with a kunai at the boy's throat.

"Like I said before: you're pathetic."

"How—you set a trap in that hole?"

"Wow, you finally figured it out? I was getting worried there for a second…"

"But how'd you activate it?"

"Your focus was so narrow that you didn't even notice me dispel henge, throw a shuriken right by you, and use henge again." The shock that Kaen received upon hearing that was such that he was left completely speechless. "Quit complaining about your clan and how everyone assumes that you're weak. You aren't that strong yourself, so you should just be glad that there are people that care about you."

Genma waited with a grin while Naruto was talking. Every time he heard the boy criticize someone, he was impressed by Naruto's maturity and insight. "This match is over. Shousha: Uzumaki Naruto!" The crowd began cheering loudly as Naruto got up and thrust his fist in the air. Genma wanted one last thing to be impressed upon Kaen before the medics arrived, so he walked over to the boy and lowered his voice. "It's true that strong people generally know strong techniques, but those techniques aren't why they're strong. Underestimating the usefulness of the basics is a weakness too."

Kaen grimaced at being told that his entire way of thinking was wrong, but ultimately knew that Genma was right. Naruto had defeated him with nothing more than henge, kawarimi, and some simple weapons. The conclusion that he came to was that Naruto had been right: utilizing the proper resources is an important aspect of strength. Although it wasn't a pleasant thought, he knew that his father was the resource that would best help in fixing all of his faults.

* * *

"Yatta! Way to go, Naruto!" Mabui had jumped out of her chair the moment that Naruto's victory had been declared, and was literally jumping for joy. Kiba, Shino, Chouji, and Tenten, while happy that Naruto had won, were far too shocked at his methodology to get up and cheer. Not only had he shown a level of restraint that none of them would have considered possible, but he hadn't even used kage bunshin! 

Shino was by far the most shocked, though. Had he only known that Kaen's weakness was _kawarimi no jutsu_, of all things, he would have easily won his preliminary match. Still, the fact that he hadn't even tried it showed that he was also guilty of underestimating the fundamentals, and he doubted that he would have been able to defeat Naruto regardless.

"Mabui? I think you can stop cheering now…" Kiba was starting to get annoyed, and Akamaru yipped in agreement. "Naruto isn't even on the field anymore." She stopped cheering mid-jump, which was a weird sight.

"Oh, yeah…" Mabui turned around, somewhat embarrassed. "It's just so exciting! I've never seen a ninja fight before!"

"_Never_?" She shook her head slowly, wondering why he sounded so surprised. "You live in Konoha! How is it possible for you to have never seen a ninja fight before?"

"I don't know… I just haven't!"

"Oi, it's Sakura-san's friends!" Shimaru suddenly had their attention, and the first thing they noticed was that he wasn't alone. "We didn't miss Kaen's fight, did we?"

"Yeah, you did…" None of them were really comfortable around someone as odd as Shimaru, so Tenten, as the most friendly among them that had met him, was the one that answered.

"Kuso! I wanted to see the Uzumaki wipe the floor with him!" The sudden outburst came from the man on Shimaru's right, whom they assumed to be his father. "Did he at least get a good beating?"

"Er…"

"You forgot to introduce yourself, dear." This time it was the woman on Shimaru's left, presumably his mother. It struck them as odd that she looked nothing like her apparent son, with her purple hair and red eyes, but they couldn't think of anyone else she could be.

"Oh, right, sorry about that…" The man scratched the back of his head, "I'm Kuromushi Shien, and this is my wife, Shichuu. So, did the Uzumaki boy blow Kaen's brains out or what?"

"Uh…" Tenten was still put off by the fact that the man had a toothy, heavily blood-stained sword with no sheath on his back, but his smile was warm enough that her attention was mostly drawn to it. "Naruto won, but because of the way he did it Kaen didn't get hurt very badly."

"Aw man!" Shien kicked at the ground like a disappointed toddler. "I was hoping he'd at least lose a few pints of blood!" Shichuu latched onto her husband in a very motherly manner, hoping to console him over his "loss."

"It's alright honey, I'm sure you'll get to see him get hurt in the next exam…" At that point Mabui, Chouji, Shino, Kiba, and Tenten realized that they were being _serious_. The mood tensed, but Shien, Shichuu, and Shimaru were oblivious to any change in atmosphere. "Besides, there are plenty of fights left in the tournament, and two of the participants are Hyuuga."

"Oh yeah! We'll get to see injuries for sure!" He let out a big, overdramatic sigh, "it's just too bad that Shimaru gave up his chance to beat one of them… Would've been nice, having my son win the tournament…"

"But you told me to always treat people with courtesy and respect!" Shimaru looked angry, but maintained his impression of childish innocence.

"Shimaru-chan, we didn't mean that you should act that way in battle!" Shichuu's smile at that moment confirmed the others' suspicions: it was either a genetic trait or a genjutsu. There was simply no way that three people with personalities that different could all have the same warm, spine-tingling smile. "We're proud of you for developing genjutsu that will work on the Hyuuga clan, but you need to understand that things change during a fight. The entire point of a fight is to harm, kill, or capture your opponent. If you run into enemies on a mission, you can't afford to show them mercy."

"Yeah, and besides…" Shien adjusted the bandages covering his mouth to make it easier to speak, "you come off as a total pansy if you say things like 'it wouldn't _feel_ right.' You're a ninja now! Act like it, and be proud of your strength!"

"I'm not a pansy!" Shimaru puffed up his chest for a moment before deflating and looking uncomfortable. "It's just that… I don't want to see anyone get hurt if I can help it…"

Crouching down by his son, Shien again smiled warmly. "Hey now, don't forget about your teammates! If you show your enemy mercy, your friends could wind up dead! Not to mention that your enemy has every intention of hurting _you_, regardless of whether or not you want to hurt _them_." He stood up again and rustled his son's hair, "because of that, when in battle, you should just unleash your inner sadist!"

Even with the extreme level of discomfort that they felt, the others couldn't help but sweat-drop at the term "inner sadist." Shichuu, turning her attention away from her two boys, let her curiosity get the better of her. "So, if Naruto didn't hurt Kaen, how did he win?" Tenten, glad for the opportunity to stop the talking about pain, blood, and merciless sadism, was quick to answer.

"He used kawarimi no jutsu a few times, some shuriken and kunai, and a henge. The match was called when he had Kaen pinned to the ground with a kunai to his throat."

"Hmm?" To say that she was surprised would be like saying that Jiraiya liked seeing naked women. "The Uzumaki boy… captured a conscious opponent after using minimal force and only the simplest techniques? That's quite a step up from last time…" /_He might actually make chuunin…_/ "Oh, I almost forgot! We never gave you a chance to introduce yourselves!"

* * *

"I don't get it, Temari… Why didn't he use any of those powerful techniques that he supposedly made?" 

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Temari's glare quickly silenced her brother, so she turned her sights back to the arena. Boufuu, however, had never been the type to be silenced by a glare, let alone a glare aimed at someone else.

"That guy had powerful techniques?" Completely impervious to the killing intent that was being directed at him, he just smiled at the sand siblings. "Like what?" He got no response, as both Kankurou and Temari were hoping that he would just go away if ignored. "Well, it's probably better if he doesn't use them. Ankoku'll just kill him if he does." The wave of killing intent became much stronger, but he chose to dismiss it.

As Naruto entered the waiting room, he was greeted by four smiles, one shy glance, one nod of general acknowledgement, and one bored look. Ignoring Ankoku's mild creepiness, he made a beeline for Ino. "How'd I do, Ino-chan?"

"What're you asking _me_ for? You won didn't you?" He didn't seem satisfied with that response, but she didn't have even the faintest idea as to why.

Surveying the audience, Genma decided that it was time to continue, so he cleared his throat. "Alright, it's now time for the next match! Sabaku no Gaara and Tsuchi no Ankoku, come down here!" Gaara didn't feel any particular sense of urgency, and Ankoku was hardly the type to hurry, so they ended up slowly walking down the stairs together. The trip was entirely silent, and it took them so long that the audience grew impatient.

When they were finally facing each other, preparing to begin the fight, the spectators quieted down. Genma, standing a little further away from them than he would usually stand when beginning a fight, grinned widely. "Begin!" Neither contestant made any sort of advance. After a full minute of nothing, Genma's grin disappeared. "Preferably _today_, if you two aren't too busy staring at each other."

Ankoku shrugged, "okay, I guess I can get things started. You'd better not be _too_ disappointing, though." His comment received nothing but a blank stare, so he started his attack. In order to gauge Gaara, he started with a simple assault consisting of four earth tentacles, one from each direction. What surprised him wasn't that Gaara's sand blocked them, but that it blocked the one behind him without him turning around to notice it. "Interesting… It seems that there's more to you than I would have thought. I wonder…"

Just as Gaara was beginning to wonder what Ankoku was wondering about, there was a sudden shift in his sand. Looking down, he was startled by the sight of his sand blocking another attack, this one coming from directly below him. "I see."

"You figured it out, huh?" Ankoku no longer looked bored, and actually looked to be having quite a bit of fun. "I'm impressed! The first guess usually takes five minutes or so. Well, enlighten me: what exactly am I doing?" Gaara raised what would have been an eyebrow, had he had eyebrows, before allowing more sand to pour out of his gourd.

"It's obvious that you're just using doton jutsu without making hand seals." His sand formed a protective platform for him to stand on, removing the threat of attacks coming from underneath.

"Ooh, _so_ close!" Ankoku's grin morphed into a murderous smile. "Still, I have to commend you on coming up with that so soon. Most people start by guessing that someone else is using the jutsu, or that I have an extra set of hands. The 'jutsu without hand seals' guess usually takes fifteen or twenty minutes, and by that time most people lose my interest."

Gaara, not wanting the fight to last any longer, created some sand from the ground and sent it into the air. "**Suna Shigure!**" His newly formed sand took the appearance of rain and shot itself at Ankoku, whose smile didn't falter. Not even bothering to look up, Ankoku merely created a small sphere of hardened earth around his person, which served as a perfect shield from the sand attack.

"Say goodbye to your friend, because he's not comin' outta this alive." Boufuu looked positively thrilled at the idea of Gaara's death, which only added to Temari's agitation. "He shouldn't have made himself so interestin'."

"I already told you…" It was all Temari could do to not snap his neck. "Gaara won't lose."

"You might wanna reserve judgment on that until Ankoku starts takin' him seriously."

Once the rain of sand stopped, Ankoku's barrier melted back into the ground around him, revealing the same psychotic smile on his face. "Even _more_ interesting, Gaara. The ability to make sand out of the particles in the ground and use that sand to attack… You're going to be _fun_ to kill!"

/Is_ he like me? No, those eyes say it all…_/ "Killing only for fun? Doesn't that life seem a bit hollow to you?" A deep laugh met his question, giving him a perfectly clear answer without Ankoku even having to speak.

"Yes, this life is quite hollow, but that's what makes it worth it! Those long stretches of boredom allow me to truly appreciate the fun I have when killing!" Smiling even wider, he suddenly had a very good idea. "Besides, it allows me to hide from the pain of my past."

"Pain…?"

"Yes, pain. When I was about two years old I was found in a dumpster in Iwa. Five days later, I went blind. No one knew who I was or where I came from, so I was rejected within the village as an unwelcome guest. I had no family, no home, and no money, and that lifestyle remained with me until I became a genin. Wandering the village without being able to see, locating dumpsters by smell in order to steal discarded food, and being rejected by everyone around me… _That_ is the life I've known."

"That…" Gaara's eyes widened in horror at how badly he had misread his opponent. /_All because of his eyes…_/

Ankoku suddenly burst out in laughter, and continued laughing for almost a full minute. When he stopped, he had to put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "Not!" Gaara froze completely, the most shocked look of his life on his face. "You should have seen your face though!" Ankoku chuckled darkly, "it was priceless!"

"Do you think…" Gaara was holding the sides of his head, which was making Temari and Kankurou anxious. "Do you really think that the lives of others are so worthless that you have a right to do with them as you please?"

"Eh?" For the first time, Ankoku was the one who looked confused. "That story didn't have to do with anyone else's life… In answer to your question though, I really don't care _what_ people's lives are worth. I'll do what I want to, and anyone that tries to stop me will die. End of story."

"Wrong answer." Gaara created some more sand underground and pulled it up, but suddenly there was a very real problem: it wouldn't come. Somehow, the ground was providing enough resistance that his sand couldn't get out. That was mostly because it wasn't from his main stock, and was therefore more difficult to control, but it was still disconcerting.

"Sorry, I can't let you do that just yet, because our little guessing game isn't done! You've been very entertaining, so I'll even give you a hint!" What happened next caused Gaara a shot of extreme shock. His own sand, from the little platform that he had made for himself, was struggling to wrap itself around his legs. It was doing an extremely pathetic job, but the fact that it was attempting to _harm_ him was definitely cause for alarm. "Wow, what's with that sand? Does it have its own chakra or something?"

Coming to a sudden realization, Gaara had his sand platform lift him into the air. As he had expected would happen, his sand stopped its feeble attempts at attacking him the moment it ceased contact with the ground. "Ah, so that's your gimmick. Earth natured chakra…"

"Congratulations, Sabaku no Gaara! You're the first opponent to ever figure it out during the fight! I'm _very_ impressed!"

As Gaara gathered all of his sand into the sky with him, Temari and Kankurou _finally_ had a reason to be glad that Boufuu had forced his company on them. "Oi, rock-nin, what are they talking about? What's his ability?"

The smirk they received was not at all reassuring. "Ankoku's 'ability' is just an instinctive control over earth natured chakra."

"Earth natured chakra?" Kankurou was more confused by that than Temari, if only just barely. "How does that help him control Gaara's sand?"

"You sand-nins aren't very well educated, are you?" He ignored the anger in favor of explaining it to them. "There are five elemental 'natures' that chakra can take on: wind, fire, water, earth, and lightnin'. Each of these different types of chakra has a different effect, and the effect of earth chakra is the ability to move and reshape objects. Most people assume that Ankoku's attacks are doton jutsu, but the truth of it is that he can use almost anything as a weapon."

"What!"

"Heh…" They didn't appreciate him explaining it so slowly, but he wanted something to do while Gaara was sitting in the sky analyzing the situation. "That, combined with a special genjutsu, is Ankoku's absolute offense." The terminology was all too similar to that of Gaara's "absolute defense" for their comfort, causing them to not even bother asking what the genjutsu was.

Giving up on pulling up the sand from underground, Gaara was done with his analysis. "This ability of yours, using earth chakra to control your environment… It's riddled with weaknesses."

"Ah, you noticed that did you?" Ankoku's smile just got even bigger, which made him look all the more homicidal. "But, even if you know there are weaknesses, will you be able to exploit them?" Apparently Gaara wasn't hovering at a high enough altitude, because the cement walls holding up the stands suddenly sprouted spikes that extended themselves at Gaara from above. Rather than let his shield of sand do its job, he just moved his platform of sand out of the way.

Of course, Ankoku was right: pointing out the weaknesses was easier than utilizing them. What Gaara needed was a plan. /_Because it's earth chakra, it can't travel through air or water. That means that he needs to have some kind of direct link through solid objects in order to control something. Based on the difficulty he had in controlling the sand, I'd say that his "chain" stops when someone else's chakra gets in the way. His control slows down when his chakra has to travel large distances, and he has to be actively putting chakra into something to maintain any level of control over it. He also has to be consciously aware of everything that he's doing, meaning that his defense is imperfect…_/

"What will you do, Gaara? Your appeal is wearing thin, meaning that it will be time to kill you soon if you don't find a new trick."

Using some of his main sand, Gaara pretended to attempt a frontal assault on his cocky enemy, achieving the expected result. While Ankoku focused on shielding himself from a ram made of sand, a fairly large amount of high-density sand was able to escape the ground behind him. Wasting no time, as he really didn't want the match to continue any longer, Gaara extended a hand. "**Sabaku Kyuu!**" Sand engulfed Ankoku from behind and lifted him into the air before rearranging itself to only hold his limbs.

"Wow…" The rock-nin let out an uncharacteristically high-pitched laugh, "I never expected you to hoist me off the ground! That's pretty good, Gaara! You got rid of my connection to the ground, rendering my technique virtually useless…" He struggled against his bonds for a moment before noticing something that made him slightly less happy. Suddenly, against Gaara's will, the sand moved just enough to let Ankoku fall back to the ground. "Unfortunately, it seems that the sand you make from the ground is easier for me to manipulate than the sand from your gourd. I'm bored with you now, so it's time to die. **Kuragari!**"

Gaara felt a small electric shock on his arm, and then… nothing. He couldn't see, hear, smell, taste, or feel. Complete darkness in nearly every sense of the word. Considering his situation at that time, though, he didn't really think it made any difference. The only problem was that he couldn't attack, but all he had to do to change that was dispel the genjutsu.

Not bothering to say anything, as Gaara wouldn't have heard him anyway, Ankoku began his attack by extending spikes from the walls again. They were, of course, blocked, which confused him to no end. Figuring that it had just been an amazing show of luck, he tried again from a different angle, and was again denied. Frustrated, he formed a giant battering ram and shot it at Gaara, but the sand put up such a good defense that Gaara was merely pushed to the side a little. Finally understanding that there was something he wasn't getting, he relaxed and tried to think of a plan.

"Whoa… What the hell _is_ he?" Boufuu, knowing exactly what the kuragari was like, couldn't help but be awed by Gaara's continued self-defense. "There's no _way_ he could be blockin' those attacks right now!"

"Huh?" Temari did her best to adopt a civil tone, not wanting to close up their only source of information on Ankoku. "Why's that?"

"Because Ankoku used kuragari!" Boufuu's smirk was gone, which caused both of the sand-nins to grin. "While under that special genjutsu, all sensory perception is cut off! He shouldn't be able to tell that attacks are _comin'_, let alone where they're comin' _from_!"

"It doesn't matter if Gaara knows that the attacks are coming; the sand protects him regardless of his will." The rock-nin's eyes widened, "that's Gaara's absolute defense."

"Absolute… _defense_?" /_Great… another monster…_/

His plan all set, Ankoku created a giant hand of earth and sent it at Gaara's hovering form. The hand got halfway to the floating sand before Ankoku realized that he was running severely low on chakra. He knew he needed to finish it quickly and get something to eat, so he uncrossed his arms and gave the situation his full concentration. Once the hand reached Gaara it closed around him, resulting in it taking hold of the entire shield of sand. Then came the part that he just _knew_ would finish the fight: the hand began retracting into the ground, Gaara in hand. Even if Gaara was able to defend without senses, there was no way he'd be able to breathe without air.

Gathering a large portion of chakra together, Gaara focused it all into the area that he hoped was his brain. "**Kai!**" He was surprised to see that it had actually worked, restoring his senses, but was even more surprised to see that his sand was forming a protective sphere around him, and that he seemed to be falling rapidly. Immediately taking active control of the sand, he made the sphere smaller and forced his way out of the hand's grip.

Ankoku nearly had a heart attack. The only _conceivable_ way for Gaara to have escaped that situation was for him to have broken free of the genjutsu, which no one had ever done before. Of course, no one had ever had that much time in which to try, but it was still a shock to his mind. He prepared to use the jutsu again, hoping that it had just been a fluke, when Gaara suddenly shut himself in a sphere made of his primary sand.

Having figured out that Ankoku's genjutsu was implemented with a small burst of static electricity, there was no way that Gaara was going to leave himself open to it again. The third eye formed, large amounts of sand sprang up from the ground, and Ankoku was finally ready to admit that he was scared. For the first time that he could remember, he was scared that someone else was going to kill him.

"**Suna Shigure!**" Ankoku used up almost all of his remaining chakra forming a barrier that could withstand the rain of sand, but managed to remain standing. "**Sabaku Kyuu!**" As the sand wrapped itself around his defenseless form, he began to wonder if death was _always_ this unpleasant. He waited for it, and waited for it, and waited for it… nothing seemed to be happening. When he opened his eyes, Genma was standing right in front of him, and Gaara's protective sphere of sand was only about a foot above the ground.

"Ankoku is unable to continue! Shousha: Sabaku no Gaara!" Ankoku was suddenly released from his coffin as Gaara's cocoon dissipated and all of the sand returned to his gourd. Barely stabilized on his knees, Ankoku called out to Gaara's retreating form.

"Why?" Gaara stopped walking. The meaning behind the question was entirely obvious to him without Ankoku being any more specific.

"There was a time when I would have killed you, and I would have taken great pleasure in doing it. I know better now, though. If you're looking for a reason that someone like you can understand, then just accept that I didn't _need_ to kill you."

"And if I want the real reason?"

"The real reason…" Gaara started walking again, "is that I no longer live to kill."

* * *

"Ankoku… _lost_." Boufuu was twitching pretty badly, and his voice was much harsher than usual, but the sand-nins next to him didn't care about any of that. What they wanted more than anything was to rub it in. 

"I _told_ you that Gaara wouldn't lose to someone like that."

"No, you don't understand!" He turned to Temari and looked at her as though she was insane. "_Ankoku_ lost! Ankoku _doesn't_ lose!"

"Get over it already!" Kankurou's harsh tone took Temari by surprise, but Boufuu didn't even look over at him. "So your guy lost once! After fighting Gaara, just being able to use all of his limbs earns him bragging rights."

"But…" /_Ankoku _lost _a fight!_/ "Just who is this 'Gaara…?'"

Back on the other side of the stadium, Kurenai's eyes were still wide. Asuma's grin was so wide that he was barely able to keep the cigarette in his mouth, but he still managed not to say "I told you so." Of course, Ankoku's abilities scared the hell out of him, but so did Gaara's, so he figured that everything was balancing out.

"Hmm…" Kakashi had his hand under his chin, and his book was pocketed, which told everyone else that something was wrong.

"What is it Kakashi? You aren't worried about that rock-nin, are you?"

"Huh?" He realized that Asuma had been speaking to him, but he hadn't listened to a word that had been said. "No, that's not it… I was just wondering who will win in the match between Naruto and Sakura." No one sweat dropped, so he figured that Asuma had been talking about something else.

"You're kidding, right?"

Kakashi raised his hands defensively. "I'm not talking about who's _stronger_, I'm talking about who's going to _win_."

"Eh?" They all looked equally clueless, so he decided it wasn't worth the time it would take to explain it.

"Never mind… Let's just get ready for the match between Lee and Neji."

"Yoshi!" Gai struck his nice-guy pose again, "prepare for the most amazing display of taijutsu you'll ever see!" None of them even bothered to contest that, instead just letting Gai have his moment.

"Gaara!" Naruto ran over to his stoic friend the moment the sand user entered the room. "Yatta! Way to kick his ass!"

"It was nothing…" Barely resisting the urge to mirror Naruto's energetic smile, Gaara looked his friend in the eyes. "He wasn't very strong." The meaning behind that was lost on everyone except Naruto, whose smile grew even bigger.

"Yeah, there's no way you'd lose to a guy like _that_…" Hearing Genma announce the next match, he turned around just in time to see Lee jump over the railing. "Come on, we've _gotta_ see this!" As he was curious about Lee, Gaara followed Naruto over to the edge of the room.

Neji, looking at the excited look on Lee's face, couldn't help but feel insulted. Sure, Lee had improved quite a bit since their last fight, but he was still _Lee_. He was barely one step up from Tenten! There was no way Neji was going to lose to anyone, let alone the Gai clone.

Smiling at his rival eagerly, Lee slid into his fighting stance and readied himself for the beginning of the fight. Nothing in the world meant more to him at that moment than beating Neji. Nothing. Death was more appealing than loss.

Sensing Lee's fervor, Genma decided not to keep him waiting. "Begin!" Neji's byakugan was activated almost instantly, and Lee had the distance between them covered just as quickly. After a green blur of an axe kick, which Neji easily side-stepped, Lee rolled under his rival's counter-attack and attempted a leg-sweep from the side. Of course, with the byakugan, Neji saw it coming without even turning his head.

Quickly jumping out of the way of Lee's attack, Neji rotated his body mid-air and slammed his heel into Lee's face. Or, at least, that was the intention. The moment that Lee noticed that he had missed, he rolled forward. His timing was perfect, allowing him to avoid Neji's counter completely, and he slammed his still-extended foot into Neji's stomach with the momentum from his forward roll. While the Hyuuga prodigy saw the attack coming, there was little he could do to stop it other than shield himself with his arms.

Not wanting to waste his momentary advantage, Lee chased Neji's retreating form. Because Neji had yet to stop tumbling over himself, the dropout knew that his attack wouldn't be blocked, so he decided to do as much damage as possible. "**Konoha Dai Senpuu!**"

Proving that he wasn't called a genius for nothing, Neji managed to bend forward mid-roll so that the first roundhouse went an inch above his head. The second was more problematic, as it was aimed for a location that the law of gravity said that he would soon occupy, but he managed to spring off of his hands before the kick arrived. Right when he was about to stabilize himself, he noticed that Lee's next attack was a crescent kick with the other leg, meaning that it was mere moments from hitting him in the side of the head. As it was the only option left to him, he threw his balance backward to avoid the strike, and he even managed to regain his balance on his hands and flip back into his normal stance and stepped back to avoid the final roundhouse.

Disappointed by his inability to land a solid blow on Neji, Lee jumped back to put some distance between them while he contemplated his next attack. His only real fear was that Neji would close his tenketsus, rendering him completely unable to attack.

Up in her stiff-backed chair, Tsunade was glad to see that Lee was back to fighting condition. Of course, that was to be expected after four months, but it _had_ been quite a serious injury. Still, what really surprised her was his speed. Genin weren't supposed to be that fast, even taijutsu specialists… She watched as there were a few more exchanges between the two, all of which favored Lee, and eventually concluded one thing: if he ever drank sake in her presence, she was going to get the hell out of his way.

Annoyed by Lee's successes, Neji promised himself that he would land the next hit. He just stood there as Lee charged, and remained completely still as the kick neared him. At the last possible moment he released chakra from every tenketsu on his body and began to spin. "**Kaiten!**" Lee's foot was painfully deflected in the direction opposite its approach, and the kaiten ended just in time for Neji to close a few tenketsus before targeting Lee's unguarded back.

He was rolling forward, he couldn't move his right arm, and his left lung felt about ready to explode, but Lee's biggest concern was avoiding the next strike. On that point, he was a failure. Neji, having caught up with the tumbling Lee, landed another blast of chakra on his opponent, this time to the heart. While the pain was intense, Lee ignored it and jumped back to his feet.

"Quit pretending that you can win, Lee." Neji smirked, "there's no shame in giving up when you're outmatched."

"I was just about to tell you the same thing!"

Before Neji could even register that Lee had moved, a kick was hitting him under the chin. The result was that he was sent flying upward, completely defenseless, with Lee following close behind. He managed to close two tenketsus on Lee's side before the bandages restricted the movement in his arms, but it didn't seem to have any effect at all. Finally they both turned upside-down and began their spiraling plummet. It didn't take very long for them to reach the ground, and when they did Neji was launched out of his bandage prison.

After hitting the ground head-first, being submerged up to his waist, Neji was left extremely disoriented. He was dizzy, despite the fact that he couldn't see anything, and his memory of where he was and what was happening was murky, but what he really found perplexing was that he was still conscious. Considering the amount of pain that he was in, he couldn't imagine why he hadn't passed out. Deciding that it was best to search for a medic, he activated his byakugan and took a look around. Seeing Lee gave him a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, and the location seemed vaguely familiar, but he ignored all of that and pulled himself out of the ground.

As the crowd watched Neji sit down and look around, a bit of his blood dripping on the grass, they grew impatient. There was much booing, as well as many shouts at Lee to "finish him off." While Lee looked confusedly up at the part of the audience that contained his sensei, Neji's concussion was causing him quite a bit of confusion. Finish _who_ off? Lee? Genma? Had he been fighting someone? The shouts were becoming louder and angrier, so he gathered his strength and charged the easier target of the two.

Of course, Lee wasn't in very good shape after using renge, so he took the blindsiding pretty hard. Luckily, Neji was so out of it that he didn't even think to make use of jyuuken, instead sticking to normal taijutsu. Almost immediately after punching Lee, Neji passed out from the pain. Genma nearly dropped his senbon in disbelief, but eventually decided that it was going to have to be called a tie. He waited over a minute, but Lee wasn't getting upt.

Just as he opened his mouth to make the call, Lee managed to get to his feet. Glad to see that he was going to get to announce a winner, Genma smirked. "Shousha: Rock Lee!"

"YATTA!" Gai's cheer was audible over the roar of the crowd, even to Lee. It was, for Lee, the assurance that he wasn't dreaming. He, the dropout, had defeated Neji, the Hyuuga genius, because of his hard work. His eyes watered as he fell to his knees, a big smile on his face. Quite simply, it was the happiest moment of his life.

"WAY TO EXPLODE, LEE!" Many of the people around Gai, including all of the jounin, had to cover their ears to prevent themselves from going deaf. "I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!"

"Gai, be quiet!" Amazingly, Gai heard Kakashi over his own screaming. Even more amazingly, he actually did what Kakashi asked. "He can't hear you from all the way up here, and I'm sure he wants a moment to himself anyway."

"Oh…" That made sense, so Gai retained his silence. Lee had essentially just achieved his dream, after all. Still, his pride in his student was overwhelming, even if the boy _had_ used a kinjutsu which he had been expressly told _not_ to use unless it was necessary.

Hiashi was staring open-mouthed at Neji's second loss to a dropout, while many of those around him cheered for Lee. Most of those who were cheering had no reason to cheer other than their dislike of Neji, who had gotten on their nerves in the previous exam. Hanabi, seeing her father's face, couldn't help but feel that he was overestimating his nephew. Neji was good, yes, but the _best_ Hyuuga? Hardly.

* * *

**A/N:** Wow, just short of 400 reviews! Considering that this is only the ninth chapter, I think that's pretty cool! Well, anyway…

I originally intended to have four fights in this chapter (half of the tournament), but there were some… let's call them "time constraints." The next chapter will almost definitely have five fights, finishing the exam. Don't worry, I have no intention of having this span three whole chapters.

Sorry that the chapter's up so late, by the way. We only have the one modem, so it was a choice between pirating a wireless connection or waiting. As fun as it would be to leech off of someone else's home network, I decided to test that old saying ("patience is a virtue"). My conclusion is that, even if it is a virtue, it doesn't seem to be helping me at all… Oh well, I would have felt bad if I had taken the alternative, and it's still _technically_ Wednesday here…

About the names of Shimaru's parents (although I doubt that many of you care). "Shien" means "dead circle" with the kanji that he spells it with ("死円"), but "shien" can also mean "support" if spelled with different kanji ("支援"). As for Shimaru's mom, "shichuu" means "in death" with my kanji choice ("死中"), but "shichuu" can also mean "support beam" with different kanji ("支柱"). In other words, both of Shimaru's parents could be mistaken for supports, but upon closer inspection… Well, _I_ thought it was funny, and that's all that matters to me.

Again, a big thanks goes out to Lutris Argutiae for help with translation stuff. Without him there would have been some pretty horrendous translations in here… Thanks Lutris!

Concerning Ankoku: I didn't have much of a chance to reveal it in the chapter, as Boufuu doesn't know about it, but Ankoku has a unique genetic trait similar to that of Shodai Hokage. Shodai was able to control a jinchuuriki's chakra, and Ankoku can block out all sensory perception. Ankoku has the natural ability to maneuver his chakra through things so that he can manipulate objects he isn't touching, and Shodai could create trees and control them completely. The only difference is that Ankoku's abilities could (theoretically) be mimicked, but it would most likely require hand seals.

Now, you can't honestly tell me that you didn't already know the outcomes of these fights. Gaara has (at this point) only ever been hit by four people, made to bleed by two, and defeated by one. There was no way he was going to lose in the first round. Naruto is the main character, so he _had_ to beat an original character (it's like a law or something), and Lee's skills completely trump Neji's. What good is the ability to close tenketsus when your opponent is moving too fast for you to hit them at all? All of that said, I think the rest of the fights are less predictable. I'm probably wrong, as I'm almost always wrong about that kind of thing, but we'll see.

And now, because I can, I'll ask you some questions!

Are my fight scenes alright? Now that they're longer, I'm hoping that you guys have a better opinion of them.

Did you find it as funny as I did that Naruto beat Kaen with extremely simple techniques? I was cracking up while writing certain parts of it.

_Was_ this chapter of lower quality than usual? If you're wondering why I'm asking, see the pre-chapter a/n.

Did it bother you that Gaara didn't use many techniques?

Should Lee have taken his weights off rather than using renge? The reason that he left them on was that he wasn't protecting anyone…

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading!


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